Rain or Shine
by Ciardha
Summary: Narusaku story. What happens when Naruto and Sakura sucessfully rescue Sasuke. What coming to terms with ones past and dreams means.
1. Chapter 1

Note:

This chapter takes place when Naruto and Sakura are about 25. many spoilers for events in post time jump part of the manga Naruto. (I'm trying to keep things in agreement with current story canon as well, as I'm not a fan of stories that are AU, either in plot or characterization) I'm not keen on character bashing (unless they are outright villians- Orochimaru, Itachi, etc...) and you won't see that here. If characters have somewhat negative opinions of other characters I will reflect what is in story canon but there will be no exaggeration of that. This story will have a lot of "time jumps" in it. The "home" time period is the one in this chapter. There will be a number of flashback chapters in different points in time, from their current ages in the manga onward.

Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Shonen Jump

Rain or Shine

Chapter 1

Sasuke looked out over Konoha. A storm was moving in. Back in their bedroom his two best friends - the ones that had saved his life - Sakura and Naruto lay entwined, contented smiles on their faces. He was going do his best to make sure those smiles stayed there. A bright flash of lighting across the sky drew his eyes back over Konoha.

"Not smart enough to go inside?" Sai teased as he arrived on the rooftop.

Sasuke gave Sai a dismissive look, the one he was famous for back in his childhood. He didn't give Naruto or Sakura that look much anymore though. They were more than his best friends; they had become his family, and had warmly invited him to be a part of theirs. Sai and Sasuke had also developed a kind of partnership over the years. Intimate, but mainly they found a bizarre pleasure in trying to get under the other's skin. Sai, although he didn't have much use for Sakura and she merely tolerated him, was trying to be Naruto's friend.

"Don't see you knocking on the door either." Sasuke countered.

"I just got here, you've been sitting there for hours."

"Hmph!" Sasuke felt annoyed, he didn't have a good counter for that.

The cloudburst caught them both by surprise. Loud crashing thunder followed a brilliant lightning display, waking Sakura, who saw Sasuke sitting on their balcony.

"Come on inside before it gets worse" She urged him from the doorway. He nodded agreement, heading inside with Sai jumping onto the balcony and following.

Sakura yawned and stretched, rubbing her lower spine. She did a simple chakra release to ease the aching muscles. This late in pregnancy no sleeping position was comfortable. Naruto still was lightly snoring away. He'd probably wake up if the storm got any worse, but he needed the sleep though, maybe even more than she did. He pushed himself as hard as he ever had, perhaps moreso since he became Hokage.

"I'll warm up some tea for you two ". Moving to the kitchen Sakura looked at the clock - middle of the night - she'd offer to let the two of them sleep here tonight. Sasuke was welcome as a guest anytime, but she could only tolerate Sai for a limited period.

A mighty crash of thunder startled Naruto awake. Sakura was already up; he could hear her talking in their kitchen. He scratched at his chin stubble. Trying to grow a beard wasn't all it cracked up to be, it kind of itched growing out, but it made him look more like a man and less like a boy. Sakura was supportive of him doing it; she was curious how it would change his looks.

Naruto sleepily wandered into the kitchen and said hello to Sai and Sasuke. Naruto sighed when he saw Sai, hoping he would keep his snarky comments to Sasuke, who seemed to weirdly enjoy them.

Another loud crash of thunder and a close lightning strike woke their 3-year daughter Saori, who began crying loudly for her parents. Naruto waved away Sakura going to comfort their daughter himself. Sakura knew Naruto cherished any time he had with her. He'd never had a family growing up, until the sort of family Team 7 had formed. Their final academy sensei Iruka, had tried to be fatherly toward Naruto, but Team 7 was his first family. Their sensei Kakashi was a father he was always trying to gain respect and approval from, and Sasuke was his brother. Sakura, though, had always been the girl he loved.

Naruto carried Saori back to the kitchen. She'd never go back to sleep during this storm, plus Saori had a bit of an innocent crush on the man she called her uncle- Sasuke. Naruto chuckled, like mother, like daughter.

"Ojichan!" Saori cried excitedly, forgetting the frightening storm that had woken her.

Naruto set his daughter on the floor and she leaped to hug her uncle. Sasuke was gentle with the child; his eyes losing a bit of the constant haunted look and a hint of an amused smile appearing instead. "Saori chan, shouldn't you be asleep?"

"Big scary storm" Saori's eyes grew wide and she pointed out the window.

"Uh huh, but we're all safe inside."

"Scary alone."

Sasuke nodded. He understood that feeling well. He'd lived with the fear until he had shoved it deep inside, so far inside he could pretend that he wasn't scared being all alone in the world, of having no family anymore. No family, other than his monster of a brother that had slaughtered the rest of the family. Itachi, who fueled Sasuke's nightmares and rage, leading him to the path that had almost destroyed him.

Sakura and Naruto exchanged looks. Their daughter was innocently healing their best friend. Her childish fears were allowing Sasuke to harmlessly reconnect with his own. Much like his friendship with both of them gave him something else to live for, drawing him ever so slightly away from his complete obsession for vengeance on his brother. That tiny part of his soul they held had allowed them to save him. It allowed him to become a hero again by killing Orochimaru.

It was witnessing this, and his small but significant role in protecting Naruto, that had made Sai fascinated with Sasuke. It was part of why Sai, although bored, was captivated with this warm family gathering. He brought out his sketchbook and drew the scene unfolding in front of him.

Saori didn't know what to think of her uncle's boyfriend, Sai. He was confusing. Sometimes he'd be nice and draw pictures for her, but other times he'd make fun of her parents or her uncle. Unless he had his sketchpad out she tended not to talk to him. Her eyes were continuously drawn to watch him draw though. She quieted and silently sat on her uncle's lap, sucking her thumb.


	2. Chapter2

Rain or Shine

Chapter 2

Nine years earlier

Naruto walked out of the Men's public bath, hot, tired and feeling a bit contrary. A few years ago that would have been a prime time for playing some prank, but now he thought maybe getting a few shocked glances would be amusement enough. He put his jacket on but left it open, so anyone passing by would get a good look at his abs, might even get a few appreciative stares from girls his age. Be nice if one of those stares was from Sakura, but she'd probably just yell at him. Naruto smirked, no harm in putting that to the test though.

He almost laughed out loud when he heard the comments of passers by.

"Has he no shame?" An older village woman muttered.

"Wow, Naruto is kind of sexy." Tenten said. She'd caught a glimpse of him while shopping for an outfit she hoped would get Neiji to notice her as more than a teammate.

"Yeah he is, amazing." Ino replied. Intent on finding an outfit that would drive Sai crazy with lust, she had been shopping with Tenten. Pausing for a moment, she considered Naruto in this new light. Might be worth giving it a go with him. Then she dismissed it, sexy or not, he was too childish for her taste. However, she knew someone he'd be just perfect for - Sakura. Ino found it amusing that Sakura thought she was keeping it a big secret that she found Naruto sexy now. Naruto was probably the only one in the village that didn't know that! And with the way he looked right now, Ino knew Sakura would be turned on.

When Hinata caught sight of Naruto she fainted. Luckily, Kiba had been right behind her and caught her in his arms. Kiba gently kissed the crown of her head , hoping that someday Hinata would like him as more than a friend, more like how she felt about Naruto. Well, minus the fainting.

Temari snorted with amusement as Naruto passed by. "That kid's out to impress somebody" She was waiting for Shikamaru to get ready for the first date after their engagement announcement. Temari was amazed she'd finally wrestled a commitment out of that lazy ass. He claimed it was because she was the only person he'd met that had challenged his ability to strategize. Her mind worked along similar pathways, and he wouldn't mind spending a lot of time with her from now on. They'd be married as soon as he turned 18.

As Naruto neared Sakura's family home he began to feel a bit shy, suddenly filled with self-doubt. He reached for his jacket closures-

"Hi Naruto." Sakura's expression was neutral, as if she hadn't noticed. Naruto felt deflated.

Sakura had noticed, but she wasn't going to let him win at this new game. She was going to surprise him with a move of her own. A move he'd definitely like. She couldn't hold back the mischievous smile.

Naruto suddenly felt hopeful yet worried; she was smiling at him. But it was a smile that said 'I'm planning something'.

Sakura came right up to him, yanked off his jacket and kissed him full on the lips. Naruto froze – stunned and confused but overjoyed! Sakura ended the kiss and stepped back . She eyed him up and down, investigating thoroughly.

"Definitely better than Sexy no Jutsu. I like it, a lot." Then she giggled, she'd actually done it, thrown Naruto for a loop.

"Sakura chan, I… you…" He was utterly confused.

Sakura moved closer, pressing her breasts against Naruto's chest, slid her arms around his back and looked up at him. This time her gaze was serious, but gentle, with a hint of something else Naruto wasn't sure of. It was a lot like the way she had looked at him when they were 12, when he'd used Shadow Clone Jutsu to take Sasuke's form. This time though, it was really directed at him. His heart rate sped up, mind whirring - does this mean, does she, could she… He embraced her tightly.

Sakura laid her head on Naruto's chest. Now she was even closer to him in their embrace. It felt so right, so warm and good and exciting. She wanted this for a lifetime; just at this moment she realized this. She not only loved him, but loved him enough that she couldn't imagine wanting to be with anyone else anymore. Certainly not Sasuke.

Sasuke had never wanted or loved her anyway. She was so stupid to keep chasing a person who didn't love her. Inside she'd known that even before he left, but had been in denial. A denial bordering on a nervous breakdown when Sasuke left. When Naruto returned, gravely injured by Sasuke, she felt deep guilt and shame.

She would never ask Naruto to do anything like that again. She knew his own brother bond would push him to again go after Sasuke, but she vowed with all her heart that whenever Naruto did, she'd be by his side. She'd make herself strong too, so he would never be hurt again for her sake. She hadn't realized then, but she was already falling in love with Naruto.

When Naruto returned after his two and half years of training he looked so grown up and handsome. Even the annoying parts of his personality had been tempered. She had hoped he would notice how much more like a woman she looked now. He hadn't realized that she was flirting with him and naively gave an answer that had been an unintended insult. She knew he didn't realize what she was doing. He loved her for herself, not her looks.

Sakura sighed and relaxed her body in Naruto's embrace. She still had her big forehead, although she had grown into it somewhat. All the other girls had breasts larger than her tiny ones, they were barely larger than her hands cupped over them. They'd easily fit inside Naruto's hands. She blushed at the sudden sexual image, and hid her face in Naruto's chest so he wouldn't see her blush. She had filled out at the bottom though, and looked much more like a woman because of that.

Last year Tsunade had noticed grown men were starting to stare appreciatively at Sakura as she walked past. Sakura had filled out at the bottom and looked much more like a woman because of that. Tsunade had taken her shopping for a new uniform that would flatter but minimize Sakura's nearly adult shape. Tsunade was concerned that Sakura might not be ready for that kind of attention just yet. Tsunade had told her outright what men were starting to do. Sakura didn't like adult men, that she suspected of being perverts, to be looking at her as a woman. Sakura readily adopted the new uniform. She had become so used to it that she had forgotten how it hid her figure when Naruto returned.

After that embarrassment she found an alternate uniform. This uniform was something she might wear when she and Naruto were in Konoha. Unlike her standard uniform, the top was slightly fitted and showed that yes, she did have breasts, and the bottom was a close fitting miniskirt. It was so fitted that she could only wear thin panties under it. Naruto had never made a move on her since he returned from the training, but the first time he had seen her in this uniform she'd caught him doing a quick appreciative "once over". She had pretended not to notice, but inside she felt a thrill of excitement that he had noticed.

It had felt so wonderful just standing in his arms and just letting her thoughts drift, she had forgotten that he didn't truly know how she felt about him, that she loved him very much. Now she felt like she was ready for almost anything with Naruto. His voice finally sunk in to her pleasurable drifting.

"Sakura chan?"

"Yes, Naruto."

"What does this mean?"

"What do you think it means?" She couldn't help a bit of teasing.

"I don't know!"

She looked up and saw the confused but hopeful look on his face.

"Kiss me and find out."

"You want me to kiss you?"

"Yep!" Sakura closed her eyes and parted her lips.

Naruto's mouth abruptly closed down hers. The kiss was intense and overwhelming. His tongue pushed inside her mouth. She moaned and pressed her lower body closer against his. His hands moved to clamp her hips tight against his. She moaned and arched her back. Naruto broke off the kiss to gasp out, "I love you Sakura chan!"

Sakura knew it was time for Naruto to know, "I love you too Naruto."

Naruto's joyful smile reflected her own.


	3. Chapter 3

Another flashback chapter, this one is Sakura and Naruto's wedding day. This flashback arc will cover several chapters as it sets in motion a number of events that have repercussions for a number of characters.

This chapter is set about two and half years after the successful rescue of Sasuke. Sakura is just a couple of weeks away from her 19th birthday (it's mid March)

Rain or Shine

Chapter 3

Sakura waited for the ceremony to start. It was considered bad luck to see one's spouse-to-be on the morning of the wedding day. The bride was to wait with the groom's attendant and the groom with the bride's attendant. Some thought this tradition was also a test of how faithful the wedding couple would be to each other. There were tales of brides or grooms running off with their respective attendants before the ceremony started. No one knew if these were true or not, but the village elders swore they were.

"Ino is in love with Choji?" Sakura blurted incredulously.

Sasuke smiled slightly, amused at Sakura's astonishment. "You think she didn't react the same way when she found out you had fallen in love with Naruto?"

Sakura laughed self-consciously. Sasuke's barbs were gentle nowadays, but they still cut right to the heart of the matter.

Sasuke shrugged, looking for a moment like the boy she had once had a crush on. "She found out the hard way that Sai is gay too, which kind of cured her of wanting either of us for her boyfriend."

Sakura's mouth dropped open in surprise, "Do you mean she walked in on you two..."

Sasuke smirked, "That would have really done it, wouldn't it? Not quite that hard a way. It wasn't too long after I came back to Konoha. Sai told her the details of what and who he likes and finds appealing."

"Ouch. Yeah, that would do it all right . I'm still kind of surprised she fell for Choji though, she usually tends to go for the cute guys."

"Choji isn't exactly ugly."

"No, I guess he isn't. He looks less round and weird looking than he did when 12. He looks more like he's composed of muscle and fat now, and his face isn't bad looking."

"Most of us looked weird at 12."

"Not you, though."

"Yeah and all the girls, including you, were chasing me."

"Sorry about that. What can I say? I was a silly 12 year girl with a crush on the cutest boy in the class."

"It's okay, you stopped being annoying about it after a while, and I actually kind of liked you."

"Really?" The shade of that fangirl in the form of her other inner persona

did a victory cheer. Ino wasn't the only kunoichi of their class that could

charm a boy after all!

"Yeah, not that way, but as a friend. You and Naruto were the only people I considered friends. I trusted Kakashi more than I had any other adult, but he was our sensei. You and Naruto were my team mates and my only real friends."

Sakura gave Sasuke a quick but tight hug. He was a dear friend she cared a lot about, like family. He was a dear friend she cared a lot about, like family. Her inner persona was a tad disappointed that it hadn't been the feminine charms but Sakura shushed her; friendship was far more important than any kunoichi trick.

"Sasuke?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sure Naruto feels the same way, but as you've renounced the Uchiha name, would you like to be part of ours?"

"You mean officially adopting me into your family, becoming a Haruno or an Uzumaki? No, it's better I'm not officially attached to any family, not with what I did and almost did. I'd be a mark of shame on your families."

"You don't have a mark of shame to us."

"I do to Konoha, though."

"You think we care about that?" Sakura looked disgusted, there were some

people in Konoha she'd like to punch through a wall. The ones that still

looked at Naruto as the "Kyubi container", the ones that hated Tsunade for

becoming Hokage, and the ones that looked at Sasuke now as if he was still a

missing nin or a traitor; hell, even the girls that tormented her as a child

for her broad forehead.

"You don't but the council will. I won't be the cause of problems for either of you, ever again. I left Konoha and joined up with one of the worst missing nins ever from Konoha, one who killed the Third Hokage, tried to destroy Konoha and did vile experimentations on people for years both in Konoha and after he left. Then there's my brother and what he did. Between the two of us we turned the Uchiha name into a curse in Konoha."

Sakura nodded. She knew what some of the council still said about Sasuke. "Okay, so not an official adoption, but just between the three of us?" This was so important; she felt both Naruto and Sasuke's loneliness at having no family keenly.

Sasuke looked thoughtful. He nodded slightly.

"Thank you, Sasuke."

"Thank you too, Sakura."

Ino opened the door. "Time for us to switch places Sasuke, thank the gods! Naruto just paced the room the whole time and barely spoke to me. It was so boring and irritating. When he did speak, all he talked about was wanting to see you, Sakura."

Sakura faked a sympathetic look for Ino, but inside, both her adult self and

Inner Sakura, were thrilled. Naruto was as eager to be with her as she was

to be with him. Inner Sakura would shut herself away once things got beyond

kisses though, to that self anything beyond kisses was grown up "perverted

stuff". Goodness knows she and Naruto had done a few things that were a bit

perverted, and even before that, thanks to Konohamaru, Naruto had found out just how perverted she'd become in the two and half years they had been apart. Over two years later Sakura still blushed in shame. It would have been bad enough if it had just been Naruto and Konohamaru, but Sai and worst of all Kakashi sensei witnessed it too... She would never tell Tsunade about that incident. Sakura did talk to Tsunade about her fears about having a perverted side with things she liked to do with Naruto. Tsunade had told her to not to worry. Most people in love experimented with a few kinky things. Sakura decided not to pursue that conversation further with her teacher, she'd rather not know just what "kinky" things Tsunade had done with Dan, in her youth.

Once Sasuke left, Ino did a few last minute adjustments to Sakura's hair. "Good thing you finally decided to grow it back out again, or I wouldn't have been able to give you this cute hairstyle. You really look beautiful, Sakura. I told you that you'd end up prettier than me. You are that blossom in full bloom now."

"Ino, you're going to make me cry." Sakura's tears were indeed welling up. It was so good to be best friends with Ino again.

"Remember, Ninjas don't cry." They both chuckled at that childhood axiom. Ino helped Sakura reapply the light makeup, which had smeared slightly.

"I heard you and Choji-"

"Shh, we haven't made the official announcement yet. Do you mind if we do at your reception?"

"Not at all. Wow, soon we'll both be married ladies."

"Yeah, back when we were kids that seem so far away. Now we are women and it's happening so fast. Look at how many of us are married or engaged now: You and Naruto, Choji and me, Shikamaru and Temari, and Hinata and Kiba – wow and wasn't that one ever a fast courtship? Once Hinata found Kiba was in love with her-"

"I had a talk with her."

"You didn't get too scary did you?"

"No! I was very nice actually. We did some shopping and I told her that Naruto and I were engaged."

"What happened?"

"She stuttered out some congratulations. I felt bad for ending her crush fantasies, considering how soft hearted she is. I had to give her hope; she was clueless about Kiba's feelings, because of how she'd just focused all her romantic feelings on Naruto."

"So you told Hinata that Kiba was in love with her?"

"Not quite that bluntly. I said that I thought Kiba cared for her a lot. Then two weeks later I was passing by her house-"

"You saw that too?" Both of them giggled

"Yeah, it was kind of cute and romantic though"

"Who would have thought Kiba had any clue about romance?"

"I know!"

"So, how long before Tsunade's official retirement and Naruto becomes Hokage?"

Sakura laughed. "Your engagement isn't the only announcement that will be made at the reception. Tsunade wants to do the handing over at the ceremony. His first official day will start in the morning."

Ino hugged Sakura. "I'm so happy for both of you!"

"That's not all either, I'll become head Medic Nin at the same ceremony."

"Wow, Tsunade's going to fully retire then?"

"Yeah, she's been telling me I'm more competent and talented than she ever was for over a year. I didn't want to take on the role until Naruto became Hokage, because I wanted us both to take on our adult roles at the same time."

"You two really are in love. I hope you have many happy years together."

"You should have saved that for the reception toast."

Ino shrugged, "I'll just say it again, for everyone to hear."

There was a sharp rap on the door and Tsunade's voiced bellowed, "Time to get moving, chatterboxes!" Tsunade sounded like she was already slightly drunk. Sakura hoped Shizune could keep the sake away from Tsunade until after their reception ceremonies, because she didn't want to have that kind of memorable day.

Author Note

This story was inspired by Kishimoto's picture of Team 7 as adults:

looks like it could be a picture of Naruto and Sakura on their wedding day. They look like they might be slightly older than they do in the current manga stories- perhaps 18. It's most noticeable with Sakura.

Note both Naruto and Sakura have sakura blossoms designs on their outfits, Naruto's giant pipe also has sakura blossoms and is perhaps symbolic of him being Hokage? His brown jacket closely resembles the old Shogun Jinbaori, which might be another "teaser" hinting at him becoming Hokage as an adult. Sasuke's outfit has his old colors but strongly hints of his time jump experiences and costume (and interesting doesn't have his family crest. Nor does Sakura's but with the repeat of the design on Naruto's outfit, and done in what looks like mon- family crest- style on his, I'd call that a crest on both of theirs) Sakura is clearly connected with Naruto in the picture. Sasuke's back is turned but his old arrogant/superior expression is absent. He looks sort of penitent (with even a symbolic tear on his cheek) yet watchful.


	4. Chapter 4

Continuation from chapter 3, The actual wedding ceremony.

Rain or Shine  
Chapter 4

Sakura had always been the prettiest girl in Konoha to Naruto. But when he saw her approaching with Ino, Sakura's beauty was ethereal. She wore a red dress with a white collar, echoing her old family crest colors, patterned with their new family crest, a sakura blossom.

Naruto wore the crest as well, on his leggings and gauntlets. The pattern on his was of what would be their official crest. On Sakura's dress the pattern was more artistic, and two colored- the natural pink, and slightly more orange shade of the crests official color. This was mixed with a ribbon pattern in the crest's official color. Naruto's short robe was the yellow orange of the new family crest colors with a white collar and triangular designs on the sleeve ends. His jacket and pants were a midnight blue.

Sasuke stood beside him. Sasuke's long robe was same shade of blue but instead of the Uchiha crest he wore two patterns, one of a leaf (symbolizing his loyalty to Konoha) and what he had adopted as his new crest, a white square with three smaller squares inside it, the innermost one being blue. He wore a stylized teardrop on his right cheek symbolizing his penance for his past. Naruto and Sasuke both tied their robes with red cord as a subtle echo of Sakura's dress and old family colors. Naruto's formal jacket cord, and Sakura's pants were the same color as Sasuke's robe.

Ino wore an unpatterned dress in a similar style to Sakura's in her favorite shade of purple with a narrow white collar. Ino's dress was sleeveless and more form fitting than Sakura's, with an open back, partly hidden by her long blonde hair that cascaded past her hips. Instead of her normal ponytail it was loosely entwined with cosmos flowers.

Sakura giggled lightly as she took Naruto's hand. She whispered in his ear,

"A fly might land on that tongue of yours."

Naruto recovered enough to close his mouth, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from her face; she was so beautiful...

Sakura saw his dazzled gaze and was thrilled to her core. She had somehow managed not to go as obviously gaga over him, even though Ino had managed to get him to sit still long enough to comb his hair down into a semblance of order. He looked so much a handsome man right now, that probably even Ino would admit he was good looking.

Sasuke stood behind Naruto and Ino behind Sakura. Sasuke couldn't understand why Sakura stayed friends with Ino. He'd never liked Ino; in fact she had been, when they were Genin, the girl that irritated him the most, always glomping him or throwing her hair around or "accidentally" touching him. It pissed him off. Sakura's attempts at flirting when they were children, merely annoyed him. Ino, though, had invaded his space whenever she could. He was so glad he didn't get stuck on a Genin team with her. Sasuke still didn't like her much. Even though she knew he was gay, she still tried to physically flirt with him. Thankfully, she didn't glomp him anymore. He hoped Ino would finally leave him alone once she started dating Choji, but she still tried to flirt with him if they happened to go on ANBU missions. Sai was lucky, he'd been crude enough about his tastes that she merely leered at Sai occasionally now. Sasuke was too private a man to be able to be that crude, so he endured Ino's "friendly" overtures. 

Naruto also wondered at Sakura's continued friendship with Ino. She was still as competitive with Sakura as he and Sasuke had been as kids. Including with the men that Sakura cared for. Still, he'd never tell Sakura about Ino's attempt at coming onto him today. He'd certainly never act on it, so it meant nothing to him, other than an annoyance. Sakura still thought Ino was as uninterested in him as always. Naruto knew that not only Sakura and Hinata found him handsome now. Lots of women gave him appreciative looks when he went on missions to other villages. Jiraiya had also written an incredibly exaggerated version of how the women responded to Naruto in his latest book, minus the romance with Sakura. He knew some people suspected the character was him.

Thankfully, Jiraiya always changed the names of the people he fictionized. For this character, when he was asked who the character was, said it was the fourth Hokage, and supposedly no one questioned it. Jiraiya shrugged when Naruto confronted him with what he knew was a fictional version of himself. "You look a lot like your dad, and he was an incredible lady's man. The character is a blend of you and him."

Naruto worried that Sakura might figure out it was based on himself and think he'd slept with lots of women. He wondered in light of Ino's recent behavior if she had read Jiraiya's book and concluded it was thinly disguised version of Naruto's real reputation with women. He was the originator of "Sexy no Jutsu" after all. He inwardly cringed. Maybe that was it; Ino thought he was a super pervert and wanted to experience a time with him. She certainly was pretty obvious about the interest when she was taming his wild hair into a "semblance of order". Ino had constantly flirted with him, and when she had combed the back of his hair, she'd pressed her breasts against his back. That's when he started talking only about Sakura and impatiently pacing the room. When Ino left to change places with Sasuke he'd breathed a sigh of relief.

Ino was amused at the annoyed looks Naruto and Sasuke threw her way. It made her feel great that she was so good at throwing guys off their guard. It was one kunoichi skill she'd always win over Sakura. Ino took that skill quite seriously, and never missed a chance to hone it further. Temari was the only one that came anywhere near her skill. Ino felt good for Sakura that Naruto would obviously be faithful to her. She doubted Naruto understood she was testing him. Considering the pervert he'd had for his teacher she wanted to be sure Jiraiya hadn't had too much influence on him, for Sakura's sake. Still his overt rejection had hurt. Few men could reject her completely. Sai's crude rejection had actually been entertaining and sort of a turn on. In spite of him being gay she could have some fun with him. She only kept up flirting with Sasuke to annoy him; it still was a reaction to her skill. She didn't do this with Choji. To Choji she was kind. Choji was one of the few people who understood why she honed her kunoichi skills. It was the weapon that she used the best of their generation. It also made using her possession jutsu on an enemy that much easier.

Tsunade looked at her two young successors, Sakura as head Medic nin and Naruto as Hokage. They'd succeeded, beyond what others expected them. Sakura was already better at medical ninjutsu than she'd ever be. Naruto was the real surprise though. No one, besides his father, ever expected this boy to even become a ninja, much less one of the greatest village heroes, and now the youngest Hokage in Leaf village history. He wasn't the youngest village leader ever; that honor was held by the Kazekage, Gaara. A boy born and raised in circumstances even worse than Naruto's. She looked over to the seats for honored guests where Gaara sat with his older brother and sister. Gaara and Naruto had developed a close friendship over their similar circumstances. This close friendship would help the alliance between Leaf and Sand become even stronger. This was what swayed the majority of the council to supporting Naruto as the new Hokage.

Once Tsunade raised her hand for quiet the room's noise stilled and the ceremony began. Tsunade knew she was slightly drunk already, but she still felt in control. Her voice rang out loudly:

"The gods show blessing on these two! May they grant you many years of joy and few of pain and sorrow! May your union be blessed with happy and healthy children and may you never know poverty but have prosperity always!"

Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke and Ino winced slightly at the bellow of Tsunade's voice. She wasn't drunk enough to slur her words yet, but was drunk enough she had no idea of how loudly she was yelling. Sakura blushed lightly with embarrassment; instead of talking about the beautiful elements of their wedding, everyone would remember that Tsunade had been drunk when she conducted it.

Sakura and Naruto took out tiny golden kunai, barely the length of her thumb. Sakura's was embossed with her old family crest. Naruto's was embossed with the Konoha village symbol as he had no official family crest. They laid the kunai in they other's palms. They took the other's kunai and just broke the skin enough to draw blood on their pinkie fingers. Then they entwined their pinkie fingers so that their blood mingled. They spoke together,

"Our blood is one. I vow to always be loyal to you and to our clan."

They stepped a couple of steps apart and Tsunade wrapped their pinkie fingers separately in a red gauze cord. They were still separate yet connected now. Sakura and Naruto walked together to a small old fashioned ceramic lantern, with the all four sides in dark golden glass embossed with the sakura blossom crest. They lit bamboo sticks in an open brazier as Tsunade opened the lantern's top. they brought both lit sticks together and lit the wick. then the top was closed on the lantern. The light of the wick and rapidly consumed bamboo sticks made the symbol on the glass glow in the light. Tsunade loudly proclaimed:

"This is the clan Uzumaki! May it grow and prosper for a thousand years!"

The hall erupted into cheers. Then they stood up and headed to the outdoors for the Hokage ceremony. Ino followed Sasuke out as Tsunade, Sakura and Naruto stayed behind for a few minutes.

Tsunade unwrapped the red gauze cord from their pinkie fingers. Sakura's gold engagement ring on that finger gleamed in the lantern's light. the bracelet on her wrist that was a matching yellow gold glowed in the light as well. Tsunade clipped the ends that had been wrapped around their fingers off and handed Sakura's to Naruto and Naruto's to Sakura. They opened up the lantern and dropped those pieces in. The flame consumed the gauze with a clear flame with no smoke. That was a good sign; they would always see each other with clarity. They closed the lantern back and tied the long single length that had bound them together onto the lantern's top handle. Sakura and Naruto carried the lantern out of the hall.

Tsunade followed them to the dais set up in clear view of the stone carvings of the Hokage that looked over the village. Tsunade wondered how many of those present did not know Naruto's parentage. It had been another secret kept from the village and from Naruto. When Sakura and Naruto successfully returned Sasuke to Konoha though, she had taken out the sealed records for Naruto to see.

Naruto wasn't as quite as handsome as his father but he clearly was the son of the Yondaime. Even though his parents never officially married, they lived much as if they were. Despite his reputation with women the Yondaime cared deeply for his partner. When she became pregnant the Yondaime became devoted and faithful to her, giving up his youthful exploits for good, he'd vowed.

Sadly, Naruto's mother died at the beginning of the Kyubi attack on Konoha. The Yondaime lost the rest of his clan in the attack as well. When he came up with his desperate idea he and Naruto were the last of the clan. He wanted his son to be the village's salvation and grow up to be a hero loved by the village. He sacrificed his life to save his son's and the village. When the Yondaime knew he would sacrifice his life, leaving his infant son as the sole survivor of his clan, he did not want to burden a child already carrying the heavy responsibility of containing the Kyubi with carrying on the clan traditions as well. He asked the Sandaime to give his son the family name Uzumaki, the village symbol. Naruto would belong to the village not to a particular clan. If he grew up to be the hero the Yondaime hoped his son would be, he could create his own clan, start his own traditions. 

The Sandaime had added to these decrees that no one was to speak of Naruto's history, in the hopes that this would lessen the burden of containing the fox demon and in the hopes it would keep his peers from treating him as an outcast. With the children this plan worked, to a degree. But the Sandaime couldn't stop those old enough to remember the Kyubi attack from shunning the boy. This filtered down to the children who tolerated Naruto but thought him a loser. It was only when they saw him striving and winning goals that many of his peers reconsidered their opinions.

By the time he was fifteen his peers no longer thought of him as a loser, but as one of them. For a few like Sakura, Hinata, Gaara and Lee, Naruto was recognized a dear friend and a ninja with great potential. For Sakura what had began as barely tolerating Naruto, soon warmed into friendship, if a contentious one. Sakura would at turns be annoyed to her limit at him, but moments after would be his strongest supporter. This bond deepened and as they grew up turned into love. By the time they rescued Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto had begun their romance and worked as one of the most united teams Konoha had ever seen. It was this intense bond as well as their considerable skills that had won them the day, and their lost teammate back.

Before they walked up on the dais Naruto and Sakura handed their family lantern to Sasuke. They all briefly clasped a hand holding the lantern before releasing it to Sasuke's care during this ceremony. To observers this didn't have any symbolism, but for the three of team 7 it was a symbolic acknowledgement of their unofficial adoption of Sasuke into their clan.

Tsunade made the ceremony quick and straightforward for turning over the head medic nin position to Sakura. She praised Sakura's talent and dedication and then handed her the scroll of office. Sakura blushed lightly and ducked her head at the audience cheers. Naruto couldn't resist cheering loudly and giving her an enthusiastic hug. Which lead to a few suggestive comments shouted from the more perverted amongst the crowd. Sakura blushed a brighter red until she noticed Ino was amongst that group. 

Sakura rolled her eyes; Ino was such a perv, as bad as the guys. Compared to Ino, Naruto hardly ranked as perverted, aside from his infamous "Sexy no Jutsu". He really wasn't that perverted and shared much of her opinion of the overly perverted people they knew.

He'd made her realize just how much she loved passionate lovemaking though. Maybe she was a bit perverted herself. She and Naruto still found it hard to keep their hands off each other when they got in the mood, which was often. They'd snuck off a whole lot of times and done it when they went on missions, even ANBU missions. No surprise that Yamato said they really weren't suited for ANBU. Sakura thought she'd never be as embarrassed as she was at that moment. Their ANBU tenure was only a matter of months. They'd quietly gone into to regular Jonin status, and taken on training Genin teams.

Despite being a major perv, Ino had stayed in ANBU. In fact, Ino was ranked quite high overall, and currently was seen as the best of all the kunoichi in ANBU. The death of her sensei Asuma had given her a hard edge, which made her perfect for ANBU.

Ino had teased Sakura about how she was with Naruto, but had saved them from the embarrassment of getting caught "in the act" several times. On the other hand, Sakura was sure Ino started the "Legendary Rabbit Two" nickname. Her friendship with Ino had always been a mixed blessing. Ino saw Sakura looking her way, and grinned. She shouted, "Congratulations, forehead girl!"

Sakura grimaced, she still hated that nickname. At this moment, in front of so many people, she refused to look undignified. She told her inner persona "Hush!" She wouldn't shout back her return insult, calling Ino "pig girl!". Sakura ignored the taunt; she looked to the other member of her first team in the crowd instead.

Sasuke nodded with a faint smile. Sakura had done the right thing by not letting Ino's words bait her into a foolish response.

Naruto couldn't conceal a moment of anger, he knew how much Sakura hated that childhood nickname. He glared briefly at Ino.

Sai looked confused, "forehead girl?" What was the big deal about Sakura san's forehead? It looked like a normal forehead to him. Maybe it was some mysterious female thing.

Sakura decided to let it go, who cared about her forehead anyway? That was a childhood scar, it meant nothing to her life now. She smiled and stepped back; now it was Naruto's time to shine.


	5. Chapter 5

This chapter is the Hokage ceremony.

Rain or Shine  
Chapter 5

"I know news of Naruto Uzumaki becoming Konoha's sixth Hokage has leaked out."

Tsunade paused and glanced around the crowd. She was relieved to see the reports were true; the town seemed to rather accepting of this. There were a fair number of broad smiles in the crowd, very few frowns. Most of people had neutral but open expressions. Naruto had proved himself to Konoha many times over in his eighteen years, especially in the last six. Most people expressed confidence in his ability to lead, especially with Sakura and his other choice of advisers at his side. Confidence in Naruto was running far higher than confidence in the village council. That boded quite well for Naruto. What she was about to say might shake a few of the old guard families up; most of his opposition came from them because they had no proof of his tie to a founding ninja family. It was a ridiculous reason, but this would clear away this excuse. 

"What is not common knowledge is that today is my final day as your fifth Hokage. Tomorrow Naruto Uzumaki will become your sixth Hokage!"

Stunned expressions replaced the frowns in the crowd, but those that had been smiling roared their approval. The majority smiled indulgently at the cheerers and clapped.

"What is also not common knowledge is that Naruto Uzumaki was the son of our beloved fourth Hokage. He is the last of that clan, but has chosen to retain the family name given to him by the third Hokage by the final decree of fourth. The fourth wished his son to become a hero of Konoha on his own merits. Naruto has become that hero many times over."

The faces of Naruto's opposition reflected confusion. Some seemed relieved and smiled; those had been won over. Likely they had quietly approved of Naruto but clan ways had kept them from openly supporting him; now they could. A second group looked like a boater who had lost their oars; they didn't know what to think. The third group, made up mostly of clan elders still had looks of mild disapproval despite their confusion. Those would probably always be reluctant to support Naruto; they'd even been that way to her and she was the granddaughter of the first Hokage. Naruto hadn't been keen on this stunt. Sakura had concurred with Naruto. His other advisers however, had agreed it was a good idea. Sasuke Uchiha had explained to Sakura and Naruto how the old clans were: that if Naruto had open support from part of the clans, rather than minimal behind the scenes approval, it would give him a stronger base. If part of the old clans had an opening to support him they would. This would give them that opening. Naruto agreed reluctantly but only if he could say something about how his clan claim wasn't important. 

Naruto stepped forward and Tsunade took her hat of office off and placed it on Naruto's head. He was now Hokage.

"Some of you had probably already guessed I was the fourth's son. Many of my friends have told me how much I look like the pictures of the fourth. We do not know of my father except through our Academy lessons. My father was a great man. I hope to lead you as well as my father. However, I am not my father. I am Naruto Uzumaki. My clan claims aren't who I am. I got here being Naruto Uzumaki and that includes being a jinchuuriki."

Those old enough to remember the Kyubi attack on Konoha gasped. The great secret the third and fourth had forbidden to be spoken had been uttered aloud. The faces of the younger adults reflected interest, the great mystery about Naruto was about to be revealed.

"I want to explain to you what it means to be a jinchuuriki." Naruto paused again and looked over the crowd. All eyes were on him, even the old clan opposition.

"I am not a mere 'container' for the Kyubi. I have my own mind and soul. The Kyubi has been a part of me though, since I can remember. I was luckier than most jinchuuriki. The containment spell my father used blocked the Kyubi from doing more than giving me some really strange dreams as a young child. It also blocked my access to my own chakra though, which is why I was such a failure at most jutsus at the Academy." He paused with a grin as most of his peers reassessed their image of Naruto as their classmate. Sasuke looked sad, regretting his "dead last" comments when they worked on a team. Unlike most people here he already most of the details, but Naruto had avoided talking about his early childhood even to him.

"My father designed the seals to weaken as I grew up, believing a jinchuuriki child nurtured with love would develop a strong sense of self and be able to handle the bijuu within as he passed through the ninja ranks and gained his own skills and abilities. Part of my father's wish was not followed. Attitudes about jinchuuriki remained despite the law. I became a prankster to get some acknowledgment, even if it was as a fool and an idiot."

Sakura stepped forward and took his hand. She knew more than anyone, other than Naruto himself, but hearing the pain in his voice made standing away from him unbearable. She couldn't stop the tears streaming down her face. She felt shamed to the core that she had contributed, even minimally, to that pain in his voice. She had apologized long ago for it, but the guilt still was there. Naruto told her that once she started seeing him as her team mate the stuff before didn't matter. It was how she felt now that was important. She still wished she hadn't been so dismissive of him when they were children.

Naruto turned to her and his eyes were soft. His other hand stroked away her tears. Sakura took a deep breath and regained control of her emotions. He kept hold of her hand but turned back to address the people. Sakura wasn't the only one who had cried, some, like Hinata, were still crying.

"I made some friends in the Academy though." He gave Shikamaru, Kiba and Choji a quick grin. They had been the goof off kids who tried sneaking out of the classes. "Then I had a sensei that really cared about me. Iruka sensei was the first adult, besides the third, who looked at me as a child, not a demon. He was the first person who believed in me. Then Kakashi sensei and my team mates, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno." He looked at Sakura again and she smiled at him. "Team Kakashi became my family and I'm glad we are all here today. Now because of that family I have a real one. Thank you for falling in love and marrying me, Sakura chan." Sakura's tears started anew at that, but this time she was smiling. She wanted to kiss him right then, but settled for moving in closer and leaning her head on his shoulder. He let go of her hand and put that arm around her.

"Others came forward to be my friends and teachers and I thank them too. I want to thank the Kazekage in particular. Like me, he was a jinchuuriki. He suffered far more than I had as a child. We first faced off as enemies, but we became great friends through our shared burdens. I am glad our villages have become tied together not just through friendships, but through a family." He looked at Gaara and then at Shikamaru and Temari. He and Gaara had gone over this part yesterday, deciding how much was okay to say. Politics kept it to more minimal than both young men would have liked, but they concurred this would do.

"I would also like to express my grateful feelings to Tsunade sama" Naruto laughed inwardly; this was the only time he'd addressed her in the proper formal fashion. "She believed in my ability to one day become Hokage, very soon after we met. She drove me to strive for my goal harder than anyone else. She wanted to be sure I was ready to be Hokage when I became Hokage. I gave her a really hard time about it because, despite my boasts, I had doubts about achieving this dream."

Tsunade smiled knowingly. She knew about those doubts, they had haunted her. The guilt about encouraging Nawaki and Dan long ago in their goals to be Hokage also weighed on her. That goal may have killed them. She drove Naruto so hard because she was determined that this boy would become Hokage.

"I will do my best always for Konoha. As the third wisely said, you are my family too. I will protect and love Konoha with all my heart."

The people cheered; even some of the old clan opposition began to question whether they should doubt this young man. Perhaps he might not be the wisest of men, but he was certainly a man who strove to do his best.


	6. Chapter 6

Wedding reception, part 1

After the ceremony people milled around and socialized waiting for the food to arrive. There would be two receptions. The first was a public one, that like the surprise Hokage ceremony, was open to the public. The second was for family and friends this evening.

It was no surprise that Ichiraku was the first restaurant to arrive at the public reception. Naruto had paid for their catering with most of the money he had saved over the years. Ichiraku had to call in extra help to prepare that much ramen for one day and Tenuchi made sure it was all of the highest quality.

Sakura smiled at Naruto helping Tenuchi and Ayame san set up. That was no surprise to her either. Poor Tenuchi san though, seemed surprised to see Konoha's next Hokage enthusiastically doing such menial work. He kept bowing deeply and calling Naruto, Hokage sama.

Naruto felt bad that he was making Tenuchi san uncomfortable and said "I'm not officially Hokage until tomorrow Tenuchi san. Right now I'm just Naruto, Jonin ninja of Konoha. Please let me help you."

Ayame answered "My father is so grateful Naruto san. You are his most loyal customer. We are honored having the next Hokage's help today as well. Our stand is all set up now. Please have the honor of being our first customer today along with your wife."

Naruto grinned and motioned Sakura over. They sat down at a portable table and Ayame and Tenuchi brought them each a bowl of ramen. Sakura laughed, her first wedding food was ramen, even if it was very high quality. No surprise with this man as my husband. She gazed at him fondly.

Naruto looked back at her with a big grin and a wink. It was so overwhelming today, all his dreams were coming true. He had Sakura as his wife and he was Hokage. Sakura was a big part of why he had made it to this day. It had been quite a journey for both of them. For the other member of their original team as well. He waved Sasuke over to their table. Sai followed him. Sai took some getting used to, but they'd made their peace. Sai completed their Jonin team. They all had strengths that they'd learned to work together. It made them a powerful team. Konoha had dubbed them the "legendary four" during the short time they had worked in ANBU together.

Naruto blushed, remembering why his and Sakura's ANBU tenure was so short. Tsunade had just laughed at them though, not the least bit angry. She told them that technique was a great distraction for any enemies that might have been spying on them, but rather blew their cover. Tsunade said, "What you two need, is a bit of responsibility for others more vulnerable than you, to complete your training". That's when they became sensei to their Genin teams. She had given him that year's Team 7, and Sakura that year's Team 4. It had been quite a learning experience all around.

Being sensei had taught them to temper their passions to a expert point, both aggressive and romantic. It had been funny to catch the kids spying on them when they would sneak off for a romantic moment. He and Sakura had learned just how much fun it was to scare rookie Genin. It didn't completely stop the kids from trying to spy on them, but it turned out to work quite well as a rather unconventional training. As a result of this, their teams were ranked as among the best of the Chunin for espionage missions.

While they were eating, Sakura spotted their former students. As usual, it looked like Harumi was planning some mischief and had convinced the other five to go along, although Eiro still looked reluctant. Sakura shook her head and sighed. She better warn Naruto the kids were up to something.

When Tsunade had given them their two teams of Genin, she had made sure to pick one that would be the most challenging for them to deal with. Sakura had Harumi, who was a female Jiraiya in the making, while Naruto had Eiro, a very kind hearted but quiet and somewhat repressed, boy.

Harumi's perverted comments about boys had tested Sakura's patience, especially when she blatantly asked Sakura how "big" Naruto was! Eiro was a challenge for Naruto because the boy was loath to attack anything unless it directly threatened one of his team mates or Harumi. If not for the boy's obvious skills in chakra control it's doubtful he would have ever made it through the Chunin Exams. He was also rather prudish on anything concerning sexuality and thus was rarely was involved in the spying attempts. But his quiet nature compensated for his lesser experience and he'd willing follow one of the others who were more experienced in mission situations.

Naruto and Sakura had often trained their teams together, much like Asuma sensei and Kurenai sensei had. Eiro and Harumi were often at loggerheads, early on. Something had happened over the course of time, and those two had developed an surprising attraction.

The attraction had probably started before Sakura had noticed it, the day Harumi came to a dual team training unusually subdued. She stayed in that mood the whole day. Harumi didn't attempt to taunt Eiro, even when Isao started mocking Eiro about wet dreams. Apparently poor Eiro had one on a mission, and Isao knew about it. Naruto had been at a loss at how to deal with this situation. Isao continued to taunt Eiro about this embarrassing situation, in front of Harumi. Isao had obviously expected Harumi to join in with the teasing. Unexpectedly, Harumi screamed at Isao to shut up and punched him. She then burst into tears. Isao looked stunned and just stared at Harumi. Eiro took Harumi's hands and asked her what was wrong. It took a while, but Eiro finally got Harumi to say what was wrong. Her beloved pet cat, Fluffball, had died the night before. Sakura and Naruto called an end to training that day. They all walked Harumi home, and with her parents permission, gave the cat an informal memorial service. It had been Sakura's idea, but Naruto "conducted" the service. Harumi had clung tight to Sakura and sobbed, while Eiro held Harumi's other hand. The boy's face filled with sorrow for Harumi's pain. Sakura hadn't been able to hold back her own tears in sympathy.

After that day, while Harumi still teased Eiro, Sakura often caught sight of them walking down the street, holding hands. They were doing the sort of innocent "dating" she and Naruto had done, early on. She'd even seen Naruto treating the two at Ichiraku a few times.

Naruto thought the relationship was good for both of them, it calmed Harumi down a bit and brought Eiro out of his shell. It also helped that their skills complimented each other, where Eiro was weak- taijutsu, Harumi was strong. Harumi's chakra control needed a lot of work and Eiro seemed to be the perfect teacher.

Sakura and Naruto agreed that it really hadn't been wise for Kakashi to have put them in the Chunin exams so early after graduating from the Academy. A few more months of C ranked missions would benefited them more. Guy sensei had taunted Kakashi sensei about that, telling his "rival" that Sakura and Naruto had thought him a wiser teacher. Sakura smirked, well maybe on that point, but they hadn't waited as long as Guy sensei had. Sakura and Naruto choose to put their teams in on the smaller Chunin exam that happened in February. Only Konoha and Suna usually participated in the smaller Chunin exam. All members of Naruto and Sakura's teams had passed on that first try.

Sakura and Naruto decided that they'd get married once their students had all passed to Chunin rank. They spoke to Tsunade about this choice. Tsunade decided that would work out for her as well, as the perfect time to step down from her position as Hokage and Head Medic Nin. From that point onward, when they weren't working with their teams they were training with Tsunade. In Sakura's case that often involved standing in for her. In Naruto's case it meant sitting in on many of the meetings with the counsel. It limited the time they had as a couple, making the time they could snatch for romance that more prized.

The kids knew about their teachers' relationship. They hadn't attempted to keep it a secret, like Asuma sensei and Kurenai sensei had when their teams were Genin. Naruto and Sakura had sat the kids down the first day and explained that yes, their teachers loved one another and were engaged, but training was training.

The girl on Naruto's team, Kitomi, had immediately burst out with how romantic she thought it was, that their sensei were in love. That girl was in love with love. She hadn't found a boy she liked yet, but she went on and on about all the relationships she saw around her. Her favorite word was romantic. It was no surprise that Kitomi was often the first to be roped in on Harumi's mischief, including numerous attempts to spy on their teacher's dates. It also had made her lag a bit behind on picking up crucial skills because she was so easily distracted. Naruto had, by accident, once found Kitomi's journal. He showed it to Sakura. It was filled with romantic stories about the two of them. It was embarrassing to read them, but Sakura had to admit Kitomi certainly had a budding talent for writing. They had talked to her. Told her writing stories was fine but ninja lived lives of secrecy. She should change the names to made up ones. Kitomi was blushing bright red with shame, she hadn't intended them, or anyone beside Harumi, to see any of them. If Jiraiya hadn't written perverted books they might have suggested Kitomi take some training in writing novels from him.

Sakura wondered what schemes Harumi was planning for tonight. It likely involved spying on their teachers on their wedding night, knowing how Harumi's mind worked. Well if they were successful they'd get quite an education. The kids were Chunin now and you had to kind of let go a bit once they hit that rank. If they saw something, they saw something. Still Sakura wondered if Eiro and Chie might get a bit shocked. Perhaps Chie even more than Eiro.

Although she liked Isao, Chie seemed like more of a child than the others. Chie was part of Kiba's clan, a cousin of some sort. Chie's interest in Isao looked more innocent than his in her. Sakura had two girls on her team, the result of a year where more girls that usual graduated form the Academy, leading to five out of the nine teens having two girls and one boy. Sakura had been given one of those teams. Chie preferred playing with her dog to anything else. Hana, Kiba's older sister, had told her that was quite normal for their clan, it wasn't until their dogs matured that they really got interested in romance. Chie, as a result, was still rather naive and childish, despite being on the same team with Harumi.

As for Manabu, the boy on her team, he hero worshiped Naruto. It reminded Sakura uncomfortably of Lee to Guy. They talked to Shikamaru about the situation, as he was the first of their generation to have a Genin team. Shikamaru said he though Manabu felt about Naruto the way he had about Asuma. That worried Sakura a bit as well, but Naruto said they'd done what they could.

Sasuke and Sai sat down at the table. "I think your students are planning something." Sasuke stated. His face looked deadpan, except for a slight smirk.

Naruto and Sakura both sighed. "Gives me a bit more sympathy for what Kakashi sensei went through with us." Naruto smiled wryly.

"Especially you, Naruto. How many times did you rope us into some prank or another?" Sakura laughed and tapped Naruto lightly on the back of his head.

"Eh heh heh. I lost count. Bet Kakashi sensei remembers though. Want me to ask?" Naruto's eyes twinkled with amusement.

"What am I going to do with such a man for a husband?" She mock scolded as she ruffled his hair.

"I know of a few things..." He leered suggestively.

"Pervert" Sakura giggled.

"One of the things you love about me."

"Oh, Hush." She giggled again, blushing.

"I read in a book about marriage..." Sai started in, but stopped when Sakura and Naruto gave him a glare.

"I'm still working on teaching him social interaction" Sasuke said tauntingly.

Sai shot back, "You teach social interaction? I've heard lots of stories about your social interaction at the Academy and as a Genin. You were dead last at that skill."

Sakura and Naruto both grimaced and looked at Sasuke with sympathy.

Sasuke shrugged. "Still ranks better than you, doodle boy."

The two young men traded insults about each others lack of social skills with a gusto that Sakura and Naruto could only sit and watch with amazement.

"Do you think they are in love?" Sakura whispered.

Naruto shrugged and whispered back, "Wouldn't know, I'm not into guys."

"Thank goodness, that makes you all mine." Sakura flirted.

"Uh huh." Naruto grinned and sneaked in for a quick kiss.

"Going to scandalize the village." Sakura giggled.

"Wouldn't be the first time." He teased.


	7. Chapter 7

Rain or Shine

Chapter 7

The Wedding Reception, part 2. (the formal reception for family and friends)

This is for you Naruto, from me." Sakura pointed to a very large oblong box.

Naruto had no clue what something in such an enormous box could be. "Oh Sakura chan, this is-" He couldn't say any more he started laughing so hard. It was a giant pipe, clearly for decorative purposes only, covered in their family crest. He pondered, well, being metal, it could be a defensive weapon. He laughed anew, picturing himself welding it in a fight.

"You like it?" Her eyes danced with mischief. Knowing his sense of humor so well, she had to give him a wedding gift that would make him laugh, but still had a sentiment of power and family to it.

"Absolutely. We'll display it in our living room." It was so funny but cool, she had picked out the best gift. He hoped he had guessed her taste as well as she had his. "This is for you Sakura chan" He handed her a palm sized box.

"Oh they are beautiful, thank you so much." She lifted out a matching necklace and bracelet set. They were both delicate chain metal with a styled red flower and two green leaves made from precious stones hanging from them. "Will you put them on me?"

Naruto was overjoyed, she liked the gift as much as he had liked hers. He gently put the bracelet and necklace on her. He loved the chance to touch her skin and stand so close to her in public.

"Sakura sensei, Naruto sensei?"

"Yes?" They both replied.

"We bought this for you. Sorry we couldn't give it to you until now, but we couldn't agree on anything till this morning. Can we give it to you now?"

"Sure." Naruto said, and Sakura nodded. Sakura smiled slightly. This explained part of what their former students had been conspiring. She didn't doubt her suspicions about the other was true all the same. They'd attempted to peep on them numerous times before!

Sakura unwrapped the gift, a set of 10 high quality picture frames of various sizes. Even with the 6 of them that wasn't a cheap gift. Sakura didn't know if Naruto would be aware of how much the kids had spent, but she was.

Naruto recognized the store name on the box, it was a photography store that catered to wedding and special occasion photography in a upscale market. He knew because he had bought some special display frames for their wedding pictures. It was more than he would otherwise spent on picture frames, but for this occasion it was worth it. He was surprised that the kids had felt such a strong bond to them to spend that kind of money for a gift. It wasn't that many years ago that he was living alone with no family to help him out, on the kind of money their students were making. True, he and Sakura had made sure the two kids in similar situation didn't have to budget so tightly as he had from necessity and Sakura from family strictures. Still, it was kind of surprising. They'd have to be sure to treat them sometime to something really nice.

"Thank you" Sakura and Naruto responded.

The gifts from family and friends already sat in their new home at the Hokage tower. They'd start living there tomorrow, deciding to spend their wedding night in the almost bare apartment. They only had a large futon and overnight necessities for tonight. It was a goodbye to their old life, a last moment to just be a jonin ninja couple.

There would be ANBU guards stationed outside it though, but they had requested those be friends, Sasuke, Sai, Ino, and Yamato taichou. Kakashi sensei had also offered to be part of that guard, even though he hadn't officially been ANBU for some years. They accepted this offer as his wedding gift to them. Kakashi had no idea what he could give them as a wedding gift. He'd only had to get one for one couple before, and Kurenai sensei hadn't been that happy with his choice of Ero Senin's books as a gift. Naruto had a feeling Asuma sensei hadn't been that overjoyed either, from what Shikamaru said.

Shikamaru watched Temari talking to Kurenai. Temari was asking her about pregnancy and other women stuff. Shikamaru was fine with whenever Temari wanted to start their family, but some parts of that he didn't have the first idea about. It was kunoichi things and she needed to talk about it with a woman they both were comfortable with. It was easy to see that would be Kurenai sensei. Temari wasn't quite ready to start their family yet, but was planning on doing that in the coming year. She wanted to be as well informed as possible beforehand. She also planned on giving birth here in Konoha, and had already asked Sakura to be her doctor. Suna was slowly rebuilding the things her father had nearly destroyed, but they still trailed behind Konoha. Even if they hadn't, Konoha had Sakura, who would probably be the best medic nin ever, eventually.

Shikamaru still wondered why Kakashi sensei hadn't seen her potential and started her training. It was no secret in Konoha that it had been Sakura herself that had taken the initiative to ask Tsunade to train her. Ino claimed it was because Kakashi had no respect for any kunoichi. Shikamaru didn't know if that was true but Ino had convincingly made the case Kakashi didn't give either Sakura or her the credit they deserved. Temari said she'd witnessed something too, that made her wonder about Kakashi's attitude toward Sakura. Shikamaru shrugged, glad Asuma had been his sensei. Asuma had been the best sensei of their generation.

"Going to the cemetery. I'll be back later. Want to go before we head out in the morning." Shikamaru said to Temari and Kurenai.

"Would you like us to go with you? I'm getting ready to head home soon." Kurenai responded.

He shrugged. He figured Kurenai would want to but he wasn't going to put any pressure on Temari to come. She never really knew Asuma, so he was basically a stranger to her.

Temari shrugged back. "Go ahead. I'll stay till my brother wants to leave. He likes his sleep nowadays, so it probably won't be much longer, plus Matsuri's with him…" Temari rolled her eyes, but grinned. Temari thought Gaara's choice of a future bride was a bit weak for their family, but she couldn't fault the girl's loyalty. She'd tolerate the girl because of that.

Sakura and Naruto readied themselves for the tradition wedding dance- "The Gates of Konoha". The dance actually predated Konoha, and it's old name was "Lovers at the Village Gate". The story behind the dance was a maiden danced for the man she loved to show she had chosen him as her husband. In it's modern version the husband and wife begin the dance separate as a chain of maiden dancers circle around both in two circles that spiral toward each other. The wife dances alone in the center of her circle with a ring with cloth streamers of "flame". The maidens that circle around the husband draw him in closer as the maidens who circle the wife gradually become a double circle and the last inner and outer circling maidens draw the husband into the center of both circles. The husband and wife then dance together holding a ring with streamers of symbolic flame- pink, red, orange and yellow.

Naruto grinned despite his nervousness. He hoped he didn't stumble around like an idiot. He had practiced as hard for this as he had for anything he took seriously. Sakura smiled at him reassurely as the music began. He felt his nervousness slip away. So what if he stumbled a bit, it was Sakura that most eyes would be on. He knew she had practiced as hard as he had, even though she was already graceful at the steps of the dance.

He smiled back at her, when, sure enough, all eyes were drawn to Sakura. He felt a slight bit of jealousy when a few eyes looked to be appreciating the sway of her hips rather than her gracefulness, but shrugged it off. Lee still had a bit of a thing for Sakura, and Jiraiya was an old pervert.

Sakura had glanced around the room and had noticed those stares too, but shrugged them off with an eye roll, and set her eyes on Naruto. Once she looked at him again, she couldn't tear her eyes from him as he drew closer. She could see the fires of lust in his eyes and she gave him back her own. Soon they were dancing with only the small "fire" ring separating them. It was almost as good as making love, Sakura thought.

Ino smirked as she circled around them with the ring of maidens. She was sure only the public venue kept them from getting naked, and doing it right then and there. Tenten was grinning and rolling her eyes as she circled past Ino in the inner circle, doubtlessly thinking the same thing.

Sasuke smiled at his two dearest friends passion for each other. The closer their bond grew the happier and more secure it made him feel. Today his inward joy was nearly as much as theirs. His best friends had made themselves a family now, and they had made him a part of that family, even if that was a secret, he was content.

Sai had to agree, Naruto was right, Sakura was probably the most graceful dancer in Konoha. She might be a woman with an ugly temper, but she was fiercely protective of those she cared about, and Naruto was the one she cared for the most of all. She also cared for Sasuke, but emphatically made it clear that it wasn't the silly crush of her younger years. As a team mate he was family. Sai had been surprised, when despite their personal differences, she had extended that sense of caring, to even him. He still didn't quite understand that, but that was her strange nature. He didn't really understand women anyway, nor heterosexual men like Naruto. The books he read just didn't seem to quite answer those mysteries.

Kakashi had been walking around all day with a stunned expression. His students were all grown up and as of tomorrow Naruto and Sakura would both outrank him. Naruto really had become Hokage, and Sakura the head medic nin. To think Sakura was the most powerful medic nin Konoha had ever had, and perhaps even the greatest medic nin ever. It was the student he had thought the most promising that would perhaps never outrank him- Sasuke. Although, even he might eventually. Kakashi had a feeling Naruto might promote Sasuke to the head of ANBU as soon as he could. To think that Naruto had actually become Hokage though...

Tsunade was thoroughly drunk, but still quite aware what was going on. She stood beside Jiraiya, who was in a similar state. Tsunade had seen Kakashi's reaction, and was drunk enough she found it hysterical. She laughed loudly and then drunkenly related to Jiraiya how she had seen Kakashi dazedly mumbling to himself, even before Naruto and Sakura's wedding this morning. Jiraiya laughed so hard he fell on his ass. He and Tsunade were having a grand time tonight, most fun they'd ever had. Maybe it was because for now, nothing threatened and as of the morning Tsunade would be free of the weight of Hokage. Maybe it was the alcohol, but he considered something reckless with Tsunade, asking her if she'd sleep with him, at least for tonight.

Iruka was so proud and happy for Naruto. He'd achieved his dream, and won the heart of the girl he had loved since they had been in the academy. Sakura had turned into an impressive woman. He knew she was destined to become something special with her sharp intelligence. It may not have had the flash of Sasuke's technical genius, or Shikamaru's strategic genius, but he knew under the role she played, trying to be what her parents told her girls should be, was a mind and spirit waiting to burst out in the open.

It had been his idea to put her on the team with Naruto and Sasuke, to bring that potential out. His plan had succeeded. Tsunade sama had really helped Sakura, who was just starting to take her first shaky steps on her own when they met. Sakura knew what she needed, even if she hadn't realized just how perfect a choice she had made. Tsunade brought out Sakura's inner strength and power, making her the most powerful medic nin Konoha had ever had. Tsunade couldn't be more proud that Sakura had exceeded her. While the Hokage was considered a parent to all the village, Sakura and Naruto had become especially close to the Hokage's heart.

Sakura also helped Naruto grow into the man who would take over as Hokage in the morning. He listened to Sakura first and foremost. It was what had made them a virtually unbeatable team. Even from the first day they reunited, after two and half years apprenticing to Jiraiya sama and Tsunade sama, that was evident. Kakashi was astonished at how well they worked together, but Iruka wasn't. Tsunade sama hadn't been surprised either.

"Amazing so many of them made it to adulthood, and jonin rank." Hana murmured.

"If you'd seen them at the Academy you would have known this class was special, and despite all appearances, Naruto the most of all." Iruka responded.

"Definitely a lot more impressive than my class, not one jonin from the lot, and nearly half the class dead before they even made it to the Chunin Exams."

"Maybe part of that was my fault, your class was my first. I did a terrible job with your class. I'd been a Chunin myself for less than a year."

"No, I don't blame you, Iruka, it was the way things were, didn't the same happen with your class?" He nodded and looked even more sad. Hana laid her hand over his.

"We didn't think to look for potential, only the best of now. Those students got the lions share of training, while the rest got scraps here and there. A few of our Genin teachers still reflect that teaching with their teams." Iruka thought of Kakashi, who did train his team that way, much to their detriment in the Chunin Exams.

Hana and Iruka had noticed that neither Naruto or Sakura had trained their students that way, but emphasized being a team, and better yet, working with other teams. Asuma and Kurenai had created that training tactic, and it made those two teams more experienced on that level of missions, something that usually didn't even begin to happen until you reached Chunin.

"Still, part of the blame does go on my shoulders."

"But, unlike past teachers, you realized this was a mistake and worked through how to remedy it, at least in the Academy."

Iruka nodded in agreement. However, the faces of the kids that had died still haunted his dreams, all these years later.

"You know" Hana said with a flirtatious tone, in an attempt to shift the mood, "I had a major crush on you then."

"Me? I was dorky looking and pathetic."

"No you weren't, you were a good teacher and the guy I dreamed about every night." Hana blushed lightly but smiled.

Iruka blushed at the praise. "Me?" He was astonished.

"Yeah, you. No boy my age would give me a second glance, I was plain looking and like all my clan, smelled of dog."

Iruka looked sad. "It has to be especially hard for girls of your clan to find someone."

"That's why our clan usually intermarried, who else would want to be around a person that always smelled of dog. But so many of our clan died in the kyubi attack that no one was available for me or my brother to marry."

"So you have to hope you can find someone that has a mutual attraction outside of the clan." Iruka was starting to realize how serious Hana's flirtation was. He looked at her in a new light. At first it had thrilled him that a woman was even asking him if she could be his guest at Naruto and Sakura's wedding. And her flirting was a big ego boost. But she was serious, she really was attracted to him, and not just for one date.

"Yes." Hana sighed. "Iruka, it's kind of uncomfortable for me to be this blunt about something so personal, but I asked to be your date hoping we would have a mutual attraction."

He smiled. "I understand, and my answer is, yes."

"Do you mean-"

"Yes, I'll marry you." Iruka was overjoyed. He'd come on a date and ended up engaged!

Hana gave a furtive glance around the room, and seeing no one looking their direction, gave Iruka a quick kiss. He laughed and held her hands.

She loved his laugh, it made her heart fill with joy and she laughed with him. Mom would be over the moon that she'd finally screwed up the courage to propose to Iruka. She was more tentative and thoughtful like their father, while Kiba was impulsive and forthright like their mother. Mom had married fairly young, just like Kiba. Dad was the cousin Mom liked best, and she just came right out and proposed, and Dad accepted. Kiba had a bit of dad in him, his proposal to Hinata had taken a while, and was romantic, in a goofy way. Apparently, that was the perfect proposal for Hinata, because she accepted with no hesitation. They were great for each other too, as happy as two gamboling puppies. Hana hoped that Iruka could give her a bit of that joy.

"I did kind of like you that way too, back when you were my student, but I felt it was wrong to approach you back then, you were just 12 and I was 16. Then we both grew up and took on our adult roles in Konoha and I still didn't feel right about approaching you. I had been your teacher, after all. I shut that part of my heart off and immersed myself in teaching the kids. But now, it feels right, somehow."

Hana grinned, "Yeah." She took his hand and they went to find her mother, to tell Tsume the happy news.

Sakura and Naruto were in a back room sneaking in some foreplay, through their clothes, when they heard the door open behind them. They jumped apart, blushing at, yet again, getting caught by someone when they were making out. When they turned around it was even worse then they expected. It was Sakura's parents. Sakura's face turned bright red and Naruto gulped nervously.

"I told you we should have knocked first, dear." Sakura's mother said to her husband with a sarcastic tone.

"Never mind that now. We'll just pretend we didn't see anything. You were the one that was so determined to speak to them now, anyway. I said we should wait till tomorrow. Good gods they're newlyweds, give them some space!"

Sakura sighed. Another argument, and again concerning something about her. "Mom, Dad, it's okay, we're listening, go ahead."

Both her parents grimaced, their daughter was rudely acting like she was the parent, not them. But they'd done their best with her, she was a grown woman now. It was useless to try to train someone like her proper respect for ones parents. At least the shame would be on her new clan's, not on theirs now.

"We came to say that we give our blessings on your marriage, and hope you visit us sometime. When you decide to have children we'll love to see them, and help out when you need it."

Naruto smiled at her parents even though he could sense some lingering distrust and dislike over what he was. Those that knew Naruto would have recognized that this was his false smile, that covered pain and anger. Sakura knew it and gently squeezed his hand reassuredly. Sakura then walked over and hugged them.

"Thank you, we will." Sakura gave them the look her parents expected of her, but in her heart she doubted if she'd see them that often, or take her future children to see them more than what would be considered the minimum proper amount.

Her parents then made polite goodbyes and left, much to Sakura and Naruto's relief.

"Sorry about that Naruto. My parents-"

"Their problems aren't your fault, Sakura chan" He hugged her. He barely knew Sakura's parents. They'd tolerated him but made it clear that they didn't think he was worthy of marrying their daughter. Then her parents had acted like she had shamed them forever, when he and Sakura earned the teasing nickname "the legendary rabbit two", for their tendency to let their passion for each other overwhelm them, even on missions. It was embarrassing getting caught, but most people just teased them about it and found it amusing. Naruto sighed, not everything about having a family now was pleasant. Dealing with Sakura's parents was something to be endured.

"We might as well go back to the party now, Naruto."

He nodded, the excited mood was gone now. Rejoining the party would get the annoyance of Sakura's parents out of their minds. Poor Sakura chan. Maybe she didn't have a great tragedy in her early years, but having parents like that was quite a burden too.

Sakura caught a glimpse of a clearly bored and annoyed Neiji watching Lee. She knew it was a bad thing if Lee even got a slip of alcohol by accident. His body reacted really weird to it, he'd become an aggressively violent drunk, even long before he should have become drunk. It looked like the party was starting wind down so Neiji's duty shouldn't last much longer. Lee had made a really silly long winded toast to them, with water for him, but he'd meant well. Sakura had graciously thanked him for his kind words.

Neiji was tiring of being Lee's "babysitter", making sure he didn't drink any alcohol by accident. He looked at the clock and was relieved to see it was almost time for Tenten to take over watching their team mate. He was so intent on watching Lee that he hadn't realized his uncle had come up to speak to him.

Hisashi saw his nephew was distracted by his duty and politely cleared his throat as he moved to a point where Neiji could still watch Lee while they had this conversation. Hisashi doubted Neiji would be able to concentrate on watching his team mate through after he passed along this news. It was a warning about the pressure the clan was beginning to consider on who they thought Neiji should marry. Hisashi didn't agree with it, but he had to word this carefully to appear as if he was suggesting it.

"Perhaps it's time for you to marry as well Neiji."

"I'm not really ready to marry yet, uncle."

"Perhaps, not marry, but make a pledge. My younger daughter is unmarried, and is still young enough that a marriage could wait as long as ten years from now."

"She's only thirteen, uncle!"

"As I said, no marriage would be necessary for ten years, only a pledge for now."

"I have no attraction to her."

"Attraction isn't necessary for marriages in our clan. And think about it, your children would be of the main house."

"No. I will not marry her, she is like a child to me."

Hisashi shrugged as if he was giving up for now, "It was merely a suggestion. Perhaps in a few years, when she looks more like a woman you'll feel differently."

Hisashi walked away then, hoping Neiji would figure out this wasn't from him, but a warning about how the clan would soon begin to act, unless he took himself out of the game, like his older daughter had. Hinata was happy with Kiba, and was already expecting her first child. The Hyuuga clan had reluctantly accepted Hinata's choice, as she was the less powerful of the main house's heirs. That had moved Hanabi into the role as main house heir.

Neiji was only half watching Lee now, and when he saw Tenten approaching a desperate plan launched in his mind. If only she'd agree to this, it would put his mind at ease.

"I'm here to take over now Neiji, go enjoy yourself for a while. Hopefully I can get Lee to go home soon."

"I've lost all interest in celebrating now."

"I saw your uncle talking to you. What's happened?"

"I suspect my uncle was attempting to warn me about the clan."

"What are they up to?"

"For now, nothing. But soon they may start trying to get me to pledge to marry Hanabi once she reaches adulthood."

"Oh no."

"Yes." Neiji looked around to check if any of the Hyuuga clan were within earshot. When they weren't he took a deep breath and said quickly and softly, "I want to ask you if you'll marry me."

"Yes." Tenten answered swiftly with no reservations.

Neiji nodded, clearly relieved. "I think we may have to do this far away from Konoha, to insure no Hyuuga interference."

"Yeah." She'd always liked him, even when he was angry and arrogant with most people, strangely enough he hadn't been that way with her. Maybe her feelings had started out as sympathy, the Hyuuga clan, although powerful, was disliked by most other ninja families. They were too arrogant and exclusive, much like the Uchiha clan. But the Uchihas were respected because, despite their clan attitude, they had performed a useful job for Konoha as their police force. The Hyuuga clan only threw around their power and status most the time. Although things had changed in the last few years, at least from Neiji, his uncle and first cousins. That made Tenten think about Hinata, how different she was from a typical Hyuuga. She had always been a nice but shy girl, really unusual for a Hyuuga.

Neiji used to think she was weak, and not just physically, either. After their first Chunin exam though, he changed his mind. Hinata did have some sort of health issue though, something about her heart. Neiji had expressed some concerns about how safe it would be for Hinata to have children. Once Hinata had married Kiba, Neiji spoke about these concerns to Sakura about it, because he knew Hinata hadn't. Maybe Hinata hadn't even considered it because she so rarely thought of her own welfare.

Sakura had taken Neiji's concerns seriously and had spoken to both Hinata and Kiba. Tenten had heard from Hinata that Kiba almost broke down in the office when Sakura told them of the concerns. Luckily, when she gave Hinata through tests, it looked like as long as she came in for a checkup every month and took some medication, that having kids should be not too risky. She had a high risk of premature birth though. Late in her pregnancy she might have to go to full bed rest.

It was just the concern that this sort of thing can go undiagnosed that made Tenten go to Tsunade to run tests on her to make sure nothing could cause problems should she want children. Tsunade hadn't questioned her why, but ran the full battery of tests. Tenten was relieved to know she carried no risks and should have no difficulties. She and Neiji could have children with no worries about any health risks.

"We will have to convince Tsunade to return to her office and give us a mission that takes us far away for a period of time."

"Actually, I saw her wander out the door a minute ago."

"Then it appears it's time for us to leave as well."

They found Tsunade a short time later, staggering her way back to the Hokage tower. They fell in step with her and helped her up the steps. Halfway up she loudly proclaimed, "There's too many damned steps in this building! Must be to encourage old Hokages to retire!" She snorted and broke into raucous laughter.

Tsunade wasn't so drunk that she didn't know something was up with these two helping her home. Well it would be home, until the morning. When they reached her office level she turned off to it, instead of continuing up to the next level, her bedroom. She used a bit of chakra to clear her head temporarily as they walked into her office. Once the door closed behind them in her office and she had sat down in the chair she asked them point blank, "So why the desperate need to go on a mission, and one I give you, rather than Naruto tomorrow?"

Neiji hesitated for a moment, but when he saw her face was getting annoyed he spilled out the details, including that he thought it was Hisashi's warning.

"Hmm." Tsunade said nothing but that in response but opened up the mission request books and flipped through the pages. "Ah hah! Here's one. It's been sitting on my desk for the past week and I couldn't find anyone to do it."

Tenten groaned inwardly as she saw Neiji grimace. But he said nothing.

"It's a grain transport escort to Wave Country. C ranked. If Naruto wasn't to become Hokage so soon I would have considered sending him with Sakura there. It would be a honeymoon for the two of them, as they are well liked in Wave Country. All you need to insure a successful mission, is to mention you are friends with Naruto and Sakura. I can extend this mission to a month away from Konoha. That should give you plenty of time to marry and even have a small honeymoon. More than what Naruto and Sakura will get, but their choice." Tsunade shrugged.

Neiji was annoyed at it being a mere C rank, but he swallowed his pride and said with Tenten, "We'll take it."

Tsunade nodded. "You best leave as soon as the gates open in the morning. I'll send a notice to the merchant tonight that he has his escort and you'll be leaving as soon as the gates open. You should go now, pack and get some sleep. And I mean sleep." She said sternly. She didn't know if the two were intimate yet, but sleep was more important than sex the night before setting out on a long slow mission like escorting a grain transport.

After they left and she sent off the message to the merchant, she climbed the stairs to her sleeping quarters, for the last time. Once the door was closed behind her, she dropped the chakra control that she had exerted to make herself sober, reveling in the return of the blissful freedom to get drunk on occasion.

She silently thanked all those that had given her the opportunity to be Hokage. The years and responsibility of it had given her back herself. Dan and Nawaki would be proud of her. The woman she had been for far too many years, stuck deep in grief over their tragic deaths, would have made them sad, as it had Shizune.

She was glad she had returned to Konoha for Shizune's sake as well. Shizune had found happiness and love here. It had been highly entertaining to watch her foster daughter and first apprentice determinedly romance her team mate, Aoba. They'd been married a year now.

With Naruto and Sakura ready to take on her roles in Konoha, she felt the weight of her years of responsibility for the training of those most special to her lifting from her shoulders. Now she would only provide guidance when needed. For Naruto, dealing with the counsel, that would likely be a frequent thing before long. She knew, at first, he'd want to try out leading without her help, to show he was ready to be Hokage. So for a few months she'd be free.

She had picked up on Jiraiya's overtures and wasn't surprised when she turned into her bedroom that he was there.

"Tsunade, if you don't want me here I can leave."

She waved her hand that it was okay for him to stay, as she turned around to get undressed. She knew he was looking and well, it was kind of flattering that he still thought she was attractive. Neither one of them were young anymore.

Some people accused her of using a jutsu to make herself look much younger than her age, but really, especially since she became Hokage, she only adjusted her appearance slightly, about 10 years younger, she didn't want to look ridiculous, like she was trying to still look like she was in her 20's. Now she concentrated more on the internal rather than external. It kept her power at peak level, as long as she safely could. Shizune scolded her because every time she had to do the regeneration jutsu it took away a bit of time from her life, but it was still merely a handful of days now. In another 10 years she'd have to quit using it, so now was the time to retire, while she was still at peak condition. She'd have a good 10 years to be an advisor to Naruto and Sakura, then, unless she got a counsel seat, she'd go off to a private retirement where her only responsibility was to herself. She could become a cantankerous old lady in peace, like Chiyo of Sand did. If she knew Jiraiya though, he'd want to stay in contact with her. Hmm, maybe they could grow old together that way. Might be entertaining. Tsunade smiled thinking about it, it would surprise their apprentices. Might be worth it just to see Shizune and Sakura's shocked faces, might even surprise Naruto! Jiraiya might even be surprised, she smirked.

Back at the party things were winding down. As soon as the wedding pictures were taken Naruto and Sakura planned to leave. Naruto had gone back in the room they had made out in, to do something before the pictures were taken. Sakura had a suspicion it was something silly, but whatever he wanted to do was okay with her. Ino had helped her repair her hairdo and makeup so she'd look nice for the pictures. Sasuke had gone back and picked up his swords and put something on his hair attempt to flatten it out so he'd look more dignified and bodyguard-like. Ino had freshened up her makeup and hairstyle as well.

When Naruto emerged, Sakura burst out laughing. He'd spiked his hair ridiculously and painted his face, in what she knew was a defiant gesture, with nine tails, including one stripe across his mouth, the rest radiating from each side of his nose. Sasuke merely looked mildly amused and shook his head. Ino though, screeched in outrage. "No way in hell am I posing in a picture with someone that looks so ridiculous!"

Ino was firm in her refusal but Sakura did convince her to take a couple of pictures with just the two of them. Sasuke though, merely struck up a menacing bodyguard pose and stood for all the necessary pictures. Naruto grinned in every picture, loving this one chance to have some harmless mischief. Sakura smiled indulgently, he was such a goofball at times but she had come to love that part of him too. He'd even got her to do some silly things over the years. Naruto had this ability to be so charmingly convincing on pranks and silliness. Indulging him on this was just the latest one.

After the last picture was taken, Sakura kissed Naruto. Then they both laughed when they realized his make up had smeared onto her face when they kissed. She picked up a napkin and wiped off the make up, and then wiped off Naruto's before they kissed again. They said their goodnight to the party-goers that were still there, then walked back to Naruto's old apartment. Sasuke and Sai came along as their bodyguards.

A few die hard partiers would probably stay all night, like Ino and Choji. They'd turn it into an engagement party celebration, more than likely. Sakura mused as they walked home, how sweetly Ino's dad and mom reacted to the official announcement of the engagement.

Sakura hadn't realized they hadn't told Ino's parents yet. Her parents hugged both of them and looked close to tears of joy. Ino's dad and Choji's dad had been celebrating enthusiastically ever since the official announcement. They had been a team with Shikamaru's dad when they were growing up, and Ino's dad and Choji's dad had been best friends too. Now they'd be family. Ino was so much more lucky than she was with her parents. Sakura wished she'd had parents like that.

She and Naruto stood on the balcony with Sasuke and Sai and watched the celebrational fireworks. It had been many years since there had been a peaceful transition between Hokages, where the former Hokage was still alive and the country was completely at peace. The fact that their new Hokage was young, handsome and now married made the people feel that much more secure, plus most knew of the strong bond between Suna and Konoha. Even Naruto's status as a Jinchuuriki had been changed in many minds as something that made them safer, not as something to fear- the very thing his father had hoped for, Naruto had created. Who but Naruto could have done that, Sakura thought as she cuddled closer in their side by side embrace.

Right now, things were better than they'd ever been for Konoha. Even the non ninja population of Konoha was in the mood for a major celebration, thus the large fireworks show in their new Hokage and his bride's honor.

Naruto smiled. The boy who had once been shunned was now a man, loved by many and a leader. He looked back in the apartment and could almost see the ghost of that lonely little boy, dancing for joy.


	8. Chapter 8

-1This chapter about three years after chapter 7, Sakura is pregnant with Saori.

Rain or Shine  
Chapter 8

"I want you to guard Sakura" Naruto ordered Sasuke.

A nearby explosion nearly drowned out Sasuke's reply.  
"Who will guard you? You are the Hokage, Naruto."

The village guards me and I guard the village, as Hokage," Naruto's voice was calm but firm. Three years as Hokage had given him a more mature air, even in battle. But his thoughts were on Sakura. He needed to be sure she was safe.

If she hadn't been pregnant she would have been here by his side. Because she was the Head Medic Nin, she had organized the evacuation of civilians, the other pregnant kunoichi and ones with children under a year old, the injured and elderly shinobi no longer able to fight, and all ninja children under Genin rank to the hidden evacuation points. Because she was pregnant she had to be part of that evacuation. If she wasn't so close to term he wouldn't have been as worried, but the baby was due this week. The baby threw off her fighting skills, and sapped her chakra.

Sasuke wanted to argue, but he could tell by the set look in his best friend's face that no words would change his mind.

Naruto knew that look on Sasuke's face as well, after all the years of their friendship. His expression softened even as his eyes remained firm. "You know why I want you to guard her. You are our family. If anything happens to me I want you to be her and the baby's protector. Sakura chan is quite capable of fighting off almost anyone, but if it's an S class ninja, she might be outclassed, especially with the baby to watch out for. No one there at her evacuation point is up to fighting an S class ninja, except for Temari, and she's pregnant too." 

Naruto was relieved Temari hadn't left for Suna. She and Shikamaru had been preparing to leave to visit her brothers, just as Iwagakure began their invasion of Konoha. A message had been relayed to Suna. Naruto saw the messenger bird returning as he and Sasuke spoke. Less than a minute later the message was in his hands. Just as he expected Suna was sending as many of their top fighters as they could, with the Kazekage, himself leading them. The ones stationed closest to the border should be here some time today. It looked like they might need them. Gaara was determined to get to Konoha by tomorrow morning. "Try to hold them off that long, so I can save you this time." Gaara had ended the short note. Naruto smiled.

At first it looked like they would hold off the invaders outside of the hidden village, but then Iwa's current allies Amegakure came in with fresh fighters. They broke through in the far section of the civilian quarters of Konoha. Two days later the battle still raged, and was nearing the Hokage building. It was time to leave here, and join the battle again.

"Sasuke kun, go to Sakura san like Naruto kun says. I will stay here and be his bodyguard in your place." Sai understood what Naruto wasn't saying. If Sasuke was protecting Sakura, he could battle like he felt he should as Hokage.

Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment. "Alright. But you better come through this safe and sound Naruto, or you'll make Sakura very unhappy, and me too."

Sasuke disappeared and Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. He nodded at Sai. "Let's go, Konoha needs it's number one ninja in this battle!" He grinned at his old childhood boast. It was the truth now. As Hokage he was the number one ninja in Konoha. Sai smiled and followed Naruto's leap out the window to the next roof.

Sakura paced ungainly. She stared at the ceiling of the evacuation cave with disgust. She'd much rather be beside Naruto. Two months ago Tsunade and Jiraiya had spoken to them, warning that it looked like Iwa had formed some sort of alliance with Ame. An alliance between those two countries couldn't spell anything good for Konoha. Later Tsunade had spoken to Sakura alone.

"I think they are planning an invasion. Jiraiya does too. But I know why they are probably going to attack soon. A lot of the younger kunoichi, including you, are pregnant or have small infants that are still nursing right now. That brings our elite fighting force down. I don't know if Jiraiya has looked at that much of the picture. You are the Head Medic Nin now, though, so you have to be aware of this. You need to speak to Naruto about Konoha's evacuation plans. They need to be updated and small scale secret practice drills done. We don't want to show our hand, but need to be ready to put this into motion at a moments notice."

And here we are now, evacuated, Sakura sighed with disgust. She was relieved that her detailed plans had worked out. All but a few stubborn civilians, determined to fight alongside the ninja defending their village, had evacuated.

Sakura was startled, and had a kunai in her hands when Sasuke abruptly appeared beside her. A quick glance showed Temari had drawn her fan out at the ready as well. The others in the cave hadn't responded as fast. Sakura returned the kunai to the pouch with relief. Temari lowered her fan when Sakura nodded that it was okay.

Sakura turned to Sasuke, "You shouldn't have arrived that way, not in this situation."

Sasuke looked embarrassed. When women criticized him it was like he went back to childhood and it was his mom scolding him with disappointed eyes, for a mistake. "Sorry. I should have given a signal."

Sakura nodded, then was filled with dread, "Why aren't you with Naruto?"

"He's okay. He ordered me, as Hokage, to protect you."

"Idiot Naruto. I'm fine, he's the one in danger."

"I told him that. That's when he ordered me as Hokage to be your protector. Sakura, he wanted that so he could fight and not be distracted- worrying about you and the baby."

"I'm pregnant, not helpless." she snapped in irritation, then sighed in resignation, "Who's with him?"

"Sai."

"That makes me feel a bit better. He's not on your level as a fighter, but he's better than most." Still, she was worried. "How's the battle going?"

"We're holding our own, and Suna is on the way, the first of their platoons should be here by sunset."

Temari spoke up, "My little brother is coming too, isn't he?"

"Yes, he hoped to be here by morning."

"Good, we'll need fresh fighters by then." Temari smiled, she had loyal feelings for both Konoha and Suna. Her happiest times had been here in Konoha though. She felt like she was both Leaf and Sand. After this battle was over it'd probably be quite a while for she and Shikamaru could be spared to go to Suna for a visit. At least she could visit with Gaara while he was here after the battle. Seeing Gaara and Matsuri's baby would have to wait, now. Gaara had sent her a picture though of the three of them. Little Chimaki had the brightest red hair! It'd probably darken to Gaara's shade as he grew up, though.

Sasuke turned to Temari. "I'll take your post now, at the cave entrance. If anyone from Iwa or Ame gets close I can put them in a genjutsu."

Temari nodded, it was a smart plan. She had took this position because she was the longest range fighter and could take out any enemy that got too close before they even found the hidden cave entrance. And if they got close she was good enough at that to at least hold them off until Sakura or one of the other better close range fighters could get there.

Sakura smiled at Temari as she sat down beside her. "We'll be the second line of defense together." Sakura had come to really like the brilliant strategic fighter. Sakura liked her for her intelligence and snarky sense of humor. It was kind of like having a funny older sister who shared a lot of your point of views on things.

Shizune san was kind of an older sister too, but she was so serious minded, and a lot older. Tsunade shishou was her teacher, but also kind of like a mother to her. She certainly was acting like she was going to be this baby's grandmother, a lot more than her real mom. She seemed to have turned her gambling obsession into an extravagant spending spree on everything a baby might need. Shizune san had smiled when Sakura related their teacher's behavior. "She did the same thing with me when I was pregnant. It's a lot more constructive than the gambling. Let her indulge it."

Sakura's real mom spent any visits criticizing all the preparations, declaring hers as "hopelessly inadequate" and retired Hokage's in "poor taste". Tsunade shishou was thoroughly disgusted at "that woman", and told Sakura to stop letting her mother torment her into unhappiness. Her dad wasn't much better, he declared the pregnancy stuff was "women's stuff" and left her alone, but he picked at Naruto on his "failings" as a Hokage. 

Naruto groused that it was as bad as dealing with the idiots on the council.  
She and Naruto finally decided they'd put a layer of bureaucracy between themselves and her parents. All meetings would have to be scheduled through the Hokage's assistant. Her parents then wrote nasty letters to Sakura about this "outrage". She then directed that all correspondence from her parents to be handled through the Hokage's assistant as well. They hadn't been bothered by her parents since then, but Naruto's assistant told her they were still writing annoying letters. Sakura wouldn't read them, she told the assistant to tear them up after reading them. Things had gone much more happily then, until this invasion.

Not that there hadn't been plenty of joy during the early months of her pregnancy, the day she told Naruto they were going to have a baby had to be her favorite. He was still halfway asleep as they discussed their schedules for that day.

"So, Sakura chan, it's been a while since we went to Ichiraku, would you mind if we ate there tonight?"

"How about lunch, instead."

"Sure." He grinned. "What's the plan for tonight then?"

"We're going to that buffet place I really like." She grinned back. "Because we are celebrating something big."

Naruto looked confused, it wasn't either one of their birthdays, their anniversary or a major Konoha holiday...

Sakura giggled. "We're going to have a baby, silly."

Naruto looked stunned then overjoyed. He leaped over the table and swooped her up in his arms. "Sakura chan! I'm so happy! Let's tell everyone right now!"

Sakura kissed Naruto. "Lets wait until tonight. If you want to turn this into a big celebration, we'll invite all our friends to meet us at the restaurant tonight."

"Yeah, that sounds great!"

Sakura had a feeling that all their friends would already know about the baby long before dinner. Naruto was as bouncy with joy about it as he was about Iruka sensei treating him to ramen when he was a kid. She hadn't seen him this hyper with joy in years, not since she had said yes to his proposal of marriage.

She smiled, drifting off to sleep in the cave, remembering that day.

Temari smirked, guess I'm this watch, then.

It had been a while since he had paired with Sai in battle. Naruto was glad to see, that although they still didn't gel as a team as he and Sakura or even he and Sasuke did, they still anticipated each others fighting moves quite well.

It was obvious when the first platoon from Suna arrived, Iwa and Ame attackers were driven back, almost to the gates, within minutes.

He and Sai took a break from fighting to get the briefing from the platoon leader- Gaara's former sensei, Baki.

"We have three more platoons closing in on Konoha, the first should be arriving just about now, the second is about an hour away, and the Kazekage's, is about three to four hours behind that one."

"Your platoon has already helped us out a lot. Our fighters were getting worn down by all the time we've been fighting this invasion."

Baki nodded, this man, although still quite young, looked clearly on the edge of exhaustion, his bodyguard as well. They had probably arrived just in time.

The second Suna platoon drove the invaders outside Konoha's walls. The third platoon and a couple of tired but determined Konoha platoons drove them back to the woods. Gaara's platoon finished a lot of them off and sent the survivors into full retreat. Neither would be invading any other countries any time soon.

Gaara smiled when he greeted a relatively uninjured Naruto.

"So now we have come and saved your village."

"Thank you-"

"No talk about debts, now, this is friendship."

"Yeah. We're probably going to need some help with the rebuilding, if you can spare any of your civilians skilled in that, and any lower ranked ninjas with enthusiasm."

"I'm sure we can spare some of both, but let's discuss that later. How are your people?"

"Sai's gone to bring Sakura and the other evacuated people back. She'll get that report and organize things, then give me a report."

"Your arm looks injured, perhaps a medic nin should treat it."

"Yeah, think it might have fracture somewhere. Sakura chan will yell at me if I don't at least get a splint put on it. I know Tsunade baachan was last stationed about a block from here, maybe I should get her to treat it before Sakura chan gets here."

"Too late Naruto. I'm already here. Give me your arm." Her expression and tone were stern, but her eyes were filled with concern.

Naruto dutifully let his wife gently take his arm.

Not just a fracture, there's a break here" she pointed to his third finger, "and here" she pointed to his upper arm near the elbow. "The fracture is in the forearm. Did you have to use that jutsu?"

He nodded. "Just once, thankfully."

"One time to many" She chided softly, as she started the healing process in his arm. "You'll have to have a full arm cast this time, and that finger splinted."

He groaned, remembering how difficult things were the last time he had to wear a half arm cast on that arm.

"Well, lucky for you, you're married this time. I can feed you and help you get dressed and undressed." She flirted.

Gaara cleared his throat, embarrassed to view any further intimacies between them. "Sakura san, have you seen my sister? I hear she was evacuated but not with which group."

"She was with me. She's fine, just checking on her husband. We heard he was injured."

Naruto looked stricken. "How badly hurt was he?"

"Just a broken leg." Shikamaru called out as Temari landed somewhat winded with her husband cradled in her arms.

Sakura moved to help Temari gently set Shikamaru on the ground. "I can get your healing process started, it will help lessen the pain."

"Thanks." 

"Hmm, looks like a fracture rather than a full break. Probably would be a good idea to cast it anyway though."

"You're the medical expert, I'll go with whatever you say is better."

Sakura nodded.

Temari teased, "You just want me to help you get dressed and undressed, don't you?"

"Troublesome woman." He groused but blushed with a hint of a grin.

"Crybaby boy." She taunted back.

"I'll never live that down, will I? " Shikamaru sighed.

"Nope" She grinned.

"Thought so." He smiled slightly.

Temari turned to her brother then and smiled, "Good to see you again, little brother."

He smiled back, "You as well. Matsuri chan sends her greetings, and can't wait for your visit."

"I was looking forward to it too." She gazed at all the damage that would need to be repaired in Konoha. "It'll probably be a while now."

"Yes, we'll probably come back to help in the repairs here. The council will grow fearful of our absence though, so it will have to be a short one. Perhaps in another month. I'll probably have to head back with half our people in a couple of days this time."

Temari sighed resignedly, then changed the subject to something more pleasant. "How's our brother?" 

"Still playing the field." Gaara rolled his eyes. 

"He's enjoying all those silly fangirls chasing him just because the Kazekage is his brother." She snorted. "Eventually he's going to slip up with one or more of them."

"I hope it's just one."

"Our brother?" Temari smirked knowingly.

Gaara sighed, he felt a headache coming on. 

Jiraiya found Tsunade injured and unconscious on top of some rubble.

"Tsunade!" He cried out, climbing over the unsteady pile carefully.

When he reached her he saw her eyes open. She half smiled and grimaced with pain, it would take some time for this collection of injuries to heal. She had enough chakra left to heal herself enough for Jiraiya to safely carry her to wherever the closest medical triage was. She whispered in his ear, "All roads lead to you."

He blushed with embarrassment. "That poem was pathetic."

"It was the best thing you ever wrote."

He snorted, but grinned. "If you say so."

"I do." she said firmly, then grinned back, despite the pain of her injuries. "Going to do a little healing while you find the triage, I'm inducing a light sleep, so don't worry, I'm okay." 

"Alright." He said calmly. Still, Jiraiya couldn't help feeling a bit worried. He knew enough medical ninjutsu, even if his skills at it were minimal, to know she'd be recovering for quite awhile, unless she used that regeneration jutsu. Jiraiya was relieved she hadn't, he didn't want her to take any more time off her lifespan. He'd cater to her every need until she was recovered to make sure she didn't feel like she had to. He smiled ironically. Look what I've got myself into by having my dream come true with Tsunade. Still, it's worth every second.

"Tsunade sama, Jiraiya sama!" Shizune cried out in shock and raced toward them. Aoba followed, carrying their two year old son on his shoulders. They had just picked up Dasuke from his returning evacuation group when Shizune spotted the two surviving Sanin.

"Good. It's Shizune, Tsunade."

"I know." She smiled and opened her eyes.

"Looks like a clear space right over there." Aoba pointed out.

Jiraiya carefully laid Tsunade on the ground, and Shizune immediately begin to heal the woman who had raised her and trained her. After five minutes Shizune said "That's as much as can be done by me. The rest will just take time."

"Good job, Shizune. You healed the one injury I was a bit worried about. My chakra was too low to attempt it yet. It could wait, but immediate treatment is better."

"What was it?"

"Kidney injury."

"Could have had an infection start, Tsunade. I may not be a medic nin, but I know that much."

"That's why I was a bit worried, Jiraiya, and knew it would be better to get to the nearest triage."

"Um, okay." He looked skeptical, but let it go. Thanks to encountering Shizune, Tsunade would be fine. 

Tsunade stood up gingerly. As Shizune didn't try to stop her, Jiraiya knew it was okay for to make her way on her own. They walked slowly due to Tsunade's injuries.

"Jiraiya sama, I can treat your injuries on the way if you don't mind."

"Just some cuts and bruises this time."

"There's a minor muscle tear in one of your fingers."

"Wondered why it was kind of tingling." He held the hand out and Shizune healed it.

"Ah, good as new. Thanks Shizune." He smiled and flexed his hand, then winked at her. Couldn't loose his reputation with the ladies, just yet.

"You're welcome" Shizune looked embarrassed, wasn't he too old to be flirting with women that way?

Tsunade just rolled her eyes. She thought, when are you going to realize you're too old for that kind of flirting with younger women? Then she snorted, this is Jiraiya. He'll be doing that on his deathbed.

"Have to make our way to the hospital Tenten"

Tenten startled guiltily "Why?"

"You need to have a full checkup to make sure you and the baby are okay."

"You knew?"

"Yes, byakugen, remember?"

"I'm sorry, Neiji! I wanted to fight though, and I'm not that far along yet!"

"About two months, I'm estimating"

She nodded. That's what she had guessed too.

"I understand why you wanted to Tenten. That's why I didn't say anything till now. I think Sakura san understood too. That's why she didn't order you to evacuate, like she could have."

Tenten blushed. Sakura san had nodded at her with a knowing smile as she was leading her evacuation group past. "I'll ask Sakura san then."

"Let's go then. I can help out a bit on the medical treatment, and I'm sure, as long as both you and the baby are okay, they'll need help from any able bodied person."

"There's probably a lot of injured people, and some of the people trained in medical ninjutsu like you were here in the battle. Some of them might be injured too."

He nodded and they took off in the direction of Konoha's hospital.

Sakura was healing yet another broken arm on an injured ninja when she heard a commanding voice:

"Sakura! No more healing injured people today, you're in labor! You need that chakra!"

"Tsunade shishou!" Sakura flushed with guilt.

"You heard me! That's your last patient today!" Tsunade's face was fierce with anger.

"Yes, Tsunade sama." Sakura looked chastened. She finished the healing and sent the patient on her way.

"Sakura chan." Naruto's voice had a chiding tone. "How long have you been in labor and healing people?"

"About an hour."

Tsunade looked relieved, Sakura's chakra level should still be okay for a regular labor. Lets hope there's no complications. "Let me do a full scan of both of you."

"Tsunade sama-"

"Hush, Shizune, it's just a scan not any healing jutsus"

"Tsunade shishou I can heal-" Sakura started to say.

"Not today. In a couple of days, if I think your level is high enough. Things look normal now, I don't see any signs of complications. You can do regular treatments and scans for a couple more hours, but no medical ninjutsu- understand?"

"Yes, shishou." Sakura smiled.

"Don't worry, Jiraiya, Shizune. I'll be limiting myself the same way."

"Can you do a full scan on me, Sakura san?" Tenten and Neiji had just arrived at the hospital and Tenten called out to Sakura before she went inside. This brought the attention of all three medic nin women present. Sakura turned around and came up to Tenten.

"Everything's fine." Sakura smiled.

Tsunade's expression was similar to Sakura's but Shizune looked disapproving.

"You are pregnant! How could you do something so dangerous with a baby on the way?"

"Shizune." Tsunade's voice was calm but stern. "Put yourself in her shoes. What if this invasion happened in the first couple of months of your pregnancy?"

Shizune looked thoroughly unsettled. She hadn't even thought of how she might have reacted in that situation, she didn't like contemplating that. "Still, it was dangerous." Shizune said defensively.

"Yes, it was, but you would have done it too, wouldn't you?"

"I don't know!" Shizune shouted in frustration. "I'm sorry Tsunade sama."

Tsunade shrugged. "It's a difficult question, we think it through and make our choices. I probably would have done the same as Tenten in that situation. I think your uncle would have understood." Tsunade smiled, with just a hint of sadness in her eyes.

Shizune looked startled, she had brought up uncle Dan in a way she never used to- as a what if they had married and had a family. Shizune used to dream about that a lot. She would have been part of a family and they would have all been happy. It was a comforting dream. The reality of dealing with Tsunade sama's years of crushing grief and post traumatic stress had shoved that dream away. She didn't think Tsunade would ever heal enough to find comfort in those type dreams, but apparently she had.

Fourteen hours later, an exhausted Sakura lay in her bed cradling her newborn daughter. Naruto shared the room, his right arm now in a full cast. They had allowed him to sit up in a chair beside her bed until a staff member could come to help him into the other bed. He stroked the baby's head with his left hand.

"Welcome to the world Saori chan" he murmured to the sleeping baby. Then smiled at Sakura. She moved so they could kiss.

"Hey Rabbit pair, you might want to wait a bit before starting on the next one." Ino teased as she walked into the room. "Well, they drafted me to help you out, Hokage sama. Come on, you two can do more cuddling and cooing after some sleep."

Naruto reluctantly let Ino help him settle into the other bed. Then Ino came over to Sakura. "Well you get privileges, the baby can sleep here." She went back into the hallway and rolled in a bassinet that normally would have been in the nursery room. "The truth is, we need every millimeter. The newborns have all been moved into the smaller nursery room, the bigger one is filled with injured Genins. They may be ninja, but they're still kids. Tsunade sama had them put there, thought the atmosphere might be comforting."

Sakura nodded, it was a good idea. They'd have to thoroughly sanitize the room afterward, but for now it was doing the youngest ninjas the most good. "Is she resting"

"Yeah, Shizune san and Jiraiya sama got her to."

Naruto hated hearing anyone got injured, but Genins especially. He was even stricter on enforcing no missions above C rank for Genins than Tsunade baachan had been. He chuckled, he would have hated having a Hokage like that as a Genin.

Ino took the chuckle to be about Tsunade and grinned. "You should have seen it, they argued back and forth and finally Shizune and Jiraiya cornered her. Shizune did a drowsy jutsu on her and Jiraiya carried her off to bed. She was still complaining that she was still competent to do medical treatment as he did." 

Sakura and Naruto both laughed.

"I think they'll be glad to see you back on the job Sakura!"

"Sounds like it. I can do the boring paperwork after a night's rest anyway."

"Me too." Naruto said.

"You can't sign it though."

"The stamp will do for anything not classified. I can use that with my left hand." They'd told him he'd be stuck here for a least another day, but with Sakura and the baby it wasn't such a bad prospect. But he'd need something to while away the hours, and if Sakura chan could do dull paperwork, then so could he.

He'd also take all non classified verbal reports as well. It'd be a nice excuse for people to visit, as well. Some reports would need to be heard or read by both of them anyway- the injured and dead lists, most importantly. He'd heard a prelim report that they had come out of this amazingly lucky, only two known ninja deaths, and one civilian. Three too many, but it could have been a lot more if Suna hadn't arrived so quickly.

"Okay, you two, or I should say three," Ino said, as she settled Saori in the bassinet, "time for lights out. You all need the rest." Looking at Sakura, she said "the baby will probably wake up for her feeding in about three or four hours. If you want me to help you the first time you do it, just ring for me, I'm scheduled tonight. Even with the training it was awkward for me the first time I fed Chohiko, and he was ravenous by the time I got him positioned right."

"Thanks. If I'm having problems I will. How is Chohiko doing?"

"Always hungry" Ino grinned. "Completely normal for his father's side of the family." Her four month old son was definitely a big boy with a healthy appetite, already eating a significant amount of solid food. He was sleeping upstairs with the other infants and newborns in the nursery. It was frustrating on one point having to evacuate with him, instead of fighting beside Choji, but Chohiko was still a helpless baby, and still nursing too. Ino figured it was about time to end that now, since he was already consuming more solid food than breast milk.

"Enough talking though, you need your rest." Ino looked at both Naruto and Sakura. "That means waiting to have conversations until the morning, understand?"

"Bossy woman" Sakura grinned.

"And I'm enjoying it. It's been years since I could boss you around, forehead."

"Pig" Sakura stuck her tongue out, playing along with their childhood insults for the other.

"Oink, oink. Now go to sleep you two." Ino grinned and snapped off the light and shut the door.

"Goodnight Sakura chan, I'll be glad when we can be back in our own bed at home."

"Me too."

Ino checked in on them an hour later and was glad to see all three fast asleep. She sighed at the romantic picture it presented. It made her long to be back home with Choji and Chohiko in their bedroom. It'd be a couple of days at least though.

The Akimichi compound needed serious repairs. Choji's dad said their house looked intact, but the main house was a complete mess and debris blocked the way to their home. She'd take a break some time tomorrow and take a look. She had only seen Choji a couple of times, briefly. They had enough time to ascertain everyone was okay, then he was called out to be part of the search and rescue crews. He had come in fifteen minutes ago to get a cut treated and get some rest. They'd kissed and he'd gone to sleep on a futon in what was usually the waiting room.

She'd be on duty another four hours, then get her rest in the doctors sleep room, lots of futons in there too. Thankfully the staffing was fine, despite Tsunade sama on the injured list and Sakura having just given birth. They had lots of volunteers too, including Hinata- until she went into premature labor a few minutes ago.

Shizune was helping Hinata through her labor this time. Thankfully the baby was less than a month premature so there probably wouldn't be any health consequences for the baby. In another week the baby would have just been considered early rather than premature.

Ino shook her head as she did her rounds, both of Hinata's kids had been premature and having to take medicine during the pregnancy and monthly checkups because of her health risks... that was a lot to have to go through. Ino didn't know if she could have done that just to have a kid. Labor was bad enough. It was enough to convince her that one kid was enough.

Sakura woke to the baby's wails. She sleepily made her way to the baby's bed, and carried her back to hers. She tried to put together all the things she had learned about the right way to nurse a baby. I can see why Ino said I might need help the first time, my brain's still half asleep.

"Sakura chan do you want me to hit the bell over here for Ino to come?"

"Let me try for another minute, I'm just kind of sleepy and trying to remember it all."

"Okay."

Ino was close enough that she heard the baby's cries and walked in at that point.

"Need any help?"

"Yeah, if you could just get her settled right I think I remember the rest."

Once the baby started nursing Ino sat down in the one chair in the room. "You don't mind if I sit down for a few minutes here, do you?"

"Go right ahead."

"Good, I'm near the end of my shift and it's starting to catch up with me." She yawned.

"I can tell." Sakura smiled.

Naruto finally understood how the two women, so dissimilar, could be best friends. It was kind of like how he and Sasuke had become best friends even though they were so different. They started out touching some need in the other. The personality differences made the friendships volatile in their youths though, causing a near final break. But as they got older the friendship was repaired. He understood now that Ino was sort of a sister to Sakura like Sasuke had been a sort of a brother to him.

In the morning their first visitors were Gaara, Sasuke and Sai. Sai looked at the baby curiously and then spent the rest of the time quietly sketching the passing scene. Gaara smiled and cradled Saori in his arms with the expert skills of man who had recently become a father, himself. 

Sasuke looked at the infant with a gentle warmth, a look neither Naruto or Sakura had ever seen on his face. Sakura laid the baby in his arm and he held her with the trepidation, fearful of harming the helpless newborn. Saori seemed unmindful of his anxiety and curled her hand tightly over one of his fingers.

"She's so strong." Sasuke was awed by this newborn child's powerful grip.

Naruto laughed, "Guess you'll be teaching her taijutsu before long, Sakura chan?"

Sakura shot him a dirty look, but then rolled her eyes. Naruto loved to tease her about how powerful and skilled had become at taijutsu. Of their generation, she was the top, outranking even Rock Lee. Naruto was very proud of Sakura's strength and ability. Rock Lee's affection for Sakura made him proud to see her become so powerful too. He was too well mannered to let anything inappropriate show, but Naruto and Sakura knew Rock Lee still sort of had a thing for her. Sakura hoped once some girl finally returned his affections Rock Lee's feelings would fade to just the friendship he openly showed. She expected he'd come by sometime soon to see her and the new baby.

Sasuke grinned, Naruto better watch it or Sakura would get mad at his teasing. 

"Sasuke, would you be Saori's uncle? Neither Sakura or I have siblings, and you're like a brother to me..."

"You didn't even have to ask." Sasuke gazed into the newborn's blue eyes, so much like her father's. He felt an immediate bond with this newborn, not exactly a paternal bond, but definitely a desire to protect her with his life, much the same as he felt for Naruto and Sakura.

"Naruto, Sakura, even though I do have a brother and sister, and we are from different countries, you have become like siblings to me. I hope Saori and Chimaki become great friends."

Sakura startled. "Are you proposing a marriage pledge?"

Gaara's eyes widened with surprise. "No, Sakura san, but it would be a beautiful if they became friends and then fell in love, don't you think?"

"Creating an even closer bond between our countries, quite wise." Sai commented.

"Not so cold blooded though. I just have hopes that it will happen. I would never try to push it on my son."

"Nor us on Saori. But even a friendship that comes naturally, yeah I'd be happy." Naruto smiled, picturing the two kids playing on a playground and laughing.

Sakura felt mixed emotions. Yes it would be a good thing and might work out wonderfully, but even this subtle planning of their child's future bothered her. Sakura would prefer any friendships that Saori was to have develop without any adult actions behind it.

She met Sasuke's eyes and saw the same doubts on his face. He knew all too well about parents planning out their children's futures and what a disaster that could turn into. This didn't have the corrosive weight of that kind expectations, but having grown up with that he couldn't help but feel wary.

"Hokage sama, Sakura san, they told me you are receiving visitors, may I came in?"

"Of course Lee." Sakura smiled.

Lee looked momentarily dazzled at Sakura's warm expression, but then bowed politely. "Thank you."

He looked at Saori and exclaimed, "She is the most beautiful baby ever! I envy your happiness!"

Sakura barely held back giggles. "Thank you Lee. Perhaps someday you'll get married and have a child."

"It is my hope." He smiled and bowed lightly.

"So you two, ready to resume your duties?" Tsunade said mock sternly, as she entered the room.

"As soon as they let me, Tsunade baasama." Naruto grinned. 

Tsunade's eye twitched in annoyance but otherwise she showed no reaction to Naruto's teasing nickname. "Your children may call me that." She said as cuddled Saori close. This child felt like a granddaughter, much like Sakura had been like the daughter she never had.

She had enjoyed being a grandmother of sorts to Shizune's son, but well, maybe she was biased but she was thrilled Sakura's child was a daughter. Tsunade had noticed the open adoration Naruto had for his daughter and had a feeling he was even happier their child was a daughter.

Well there was the old saying that having a daughter first was best... Tsunade smiled bittersweetly, remembering her little brother. She adored Nawaki. After their parents died, it had just been the two of them in the house. It hadn't been easy at fourteen, taking on a guardian role for her ten year old brother, but he tried to be grown up so hard too, after they were all that was left of the first Hokage's family. Tsunade felt her tears welling up and turned away to the window, still cradling the newborn. She looked into Saori's innocent gaze and whispered- "I vow with my life that I will do everything to protect your childhood from the sorrows I endured."

Almost as if the infant had understood, her free arm moved up toward Tsunade's face. Tsunade lightly kissed Saori's palm. Tsunade smiled, looks like you'll have your mother's compassion and your father's charm Saori. It will do you good, nurture that in yourself and become a good person.

Tsunade turned back to the room and carried Saori back to Sakura. While she had been turned around Naruto had gotten up, and now he and Sakura were both sitting on her bed. They both reached for the baby when Tsunade handed her back.

They both laughed then Sakura said, "I'll take her, I have two good arms." As soon as Sakura had Saori in her arms she settled the baby in between the two of them. Naruto stroked Saori's cheek with his left hand, and grinned when her head turned and she latched onto a finger with her mouth.


	9. Chapter 9

-1Rain or Shine  
Chapter 9

"That's why I had to kill Danzo" 

Sai's expression resembled his expressionless one, except for the vaguest hint of anger. Naruto knew that meant his old team mate was actually seething with rage inside. Anger was too dangerous. Danzo had found that out, when Sai killed him.

"That Danzo would go so far to betray Konoha, repulses me but sadly, doesn't surprise me. Sarutobi san should have not stopped at merely telling Root they must disband, Danzo should have been eliminated then. We had enough evidence that Root was planning a coop." The third Hokage's one surviving team mate Koharu, said with disgust. She hadn't cared much for Sarutobi's liberalization or his successors more of the same, including this boy, Naruto, but one never betrayed Konoha. Sarutobi was far too kind to those that would betray the village. Thus later Hokage had to deal with Orochimaru and Danzo.

Sai had confessed in front of the council to killing Danzo, during the Ame invasion last month. Naruto knew that meant they immediately had to hold an inquiry. Sai had provided more than enough proof to validate his claim. There was no question his action was justified but there had to be a formal inquiry all the same.

Tsunade was barely restraining herself from destroying the table. She should have eliminated Root when she found out his stupid plot to ally with Orochimaru to overthrow her. But she feared the council, there were two members that were outright allies of Danzo, that old creep Homura Mitokado and a nasty old asshole- Dengyo Isshi, twenty years older than him, who had hated her uncle for even starting the Academy. The scum thought the Academy "pampered" ninja children, that as soon as they could hold a kunai they should receive harsh battle training, and by 7 should be sent into battle. No surprise Isshi never had any children and he was the last of his clan, the same was true of Mitokado.

She had to fight those two creepy old men tooth and nail to make Sarutobi sensei's late policy, encoded law- "No child, no matter how gifted, may graduate the Academy younger than the year they will turn 12." Sasuke's father had protested Sarutobi's decision at first, bringing up his older son Itachi's obvious genius and skills that had allowed him to graduate early. But three months before the massacre, the Uchiha had changed his mind, he now supported the policy. That gave the Third allies of both powerful families on the council, both the Hyuuga and the Uchiha. The Hyuuga had supported the policy because their bloodline trait tended to develop slowly and not reach optimum levels until well into the teen years. The Uchiha were gone longer before she became Hokage. Shikaku Nara had taken that empty seat, giving her a firm ally, but the Nara clan didn't have the political power that the Uchiha had. Koharu Utatane disliked Tsunade for, mostly, personal reasons, so she was no ally. She had too few allies on the council to take Danzo down. But Isshi had blessedly died of old age shortly before Naruto had become Hokage. Tsunade took that seat three months after Naruto became Hokage. Mitokado died soon after, and Shizune successfully lobbied for the seat. That gave Naruto enough allies on the council to push through much needed changes. Koharu Utatane was a sometimes grudging ally of Naruto. Tsunade smiled faintly, looks like Naruto's charisma even worked on mean old bats like Koharu.

"To think he'd have his minions deliberately weaken the walls so the invaders could break through and kill our people and cause all this damage that will be so costly to repair... He should be glad he has no surviving clan, if he did they would be paying for the cost of the repairs and put on trial." Koharu continued, outraged. Then she looked directly at Sai. "Are there any of his allies still alive?"

Sasuke answered. "I have two in custody. They appear to suffer from the same brainwashing techniques that Sai had. I don't know how responsible we can hold them, they are also young, one is ten years old, the other is eight."

Sai nodded slightly. "They were left alive for those reasons. ANBU eliminated the others because they had made a willing choice to support this traitorous action." 

Naruto's and Sakura's faces reflected anger and sadness. The anger was clearer on Sakura's face, sadness on Naruto's. Naruto was the one that spoke though. "Can someone break the brainwashing?" He looked to Sakura, Tsunade, Shizune and Sasuke before he turned back to Sai.

"It's difficult, and could take years, but possibly, yes." Sakura answered.

Sai nodded. "I can speak of how it happened for me."

"If this would be too painful in front of the council and advisers, those of us here who you feel more comfortable with can take that testimony." Tsunade said. "If the council allows that, of course," she added, when she saw Utatane's face twitch with anger.

Naruto grimaced, procedures... "Council vote." He said curtly. Sakura laid her hand on his arm to calm his annoyed temper. He sighed then, and in a calmer tone said, "Should Sai be allowed to give testimony separately on this issue?"

The votes carried in Sai's favor, thanks to Koharu's surprising abstention. Koharu smirked. She loved surprising these children. While she would have liked hearing the boy's report first hand and questioning him, she knew he would be more forthcoming around those he knew as friends. The more information they had, the better they could undo what Danzo had done to those two unfortunate children that should have been in the Academy.

Koharu wasn't heartless, no matter what these children, and that woman who had been the Fifth, thought. While she thought the children were coddled too much at the Academy, she didn't disagree with Sarutobi that they should stay in the Academy until the year they turned 12, nor with this boy's ironclad rule that no Genin would ever be given a mission higher than C ranked. She had seen him make only one exception to that rule, with a team that had one Genin on it, a Midori Katoshima, a girl of 17. The girl, much like the Sixth, had mixed Whirlpool heritage. She had spent several years away from Konoha on specialized training for her bloodline. The family had thought the water manipulation trait had died out in their clan but when Midori showed such promise at 12, the Fifth had allowed the training in area of the former homeland of her father. Upon her return, shortly after Naruto became Hokage, the girl had been a Chunnin in all but name. Midori had proved that, when shortly after returning from her team's B ranked mission, she passed the Chunnin exams. Shortly after that she had been selected for ANBU, with Sasuke Uchiha serving as her captain. The girl was on the injured list right now, but was expected to make a full recovery.

Koharu didn't fault the Sixth for most of his ideas, it was how he presented them, that sometimes irritated her enough to vote no. She knew the boy thought of her as mean and capricious, and that amused her. As charming as he was, she couldn't allow him to have his way all the time. Making him work to get her vote made him a better Hokage. He was certainly proving to be their best Hokage.

She worried about him being a Jinchuuriki, though. The Akatsuki were long gone, but others might think of the idea of extracting a bijuu, and Naruto was now the only living Jinchuuriki and the free bijuu hidden or eliminated. Naruto and others had done something with those bijuu on the hopes they'd never be found and used again. Not even she knew what had been done to them, it was a secret shared only between the Hokage, his wife, and their closest allies. That group had some secret plan set for the Kyubi should it become free when Naruto died, something they said would make sure the Kyubi would never threaten another village again, nor be used to create another Jinchuuriki ever again.

Once the private testimony began Sai relaxed. This latest and final treachery of Danzo's wasn't the only secret he would reveal to those here. Sasuke already knew the rest, but the others would hear it finally. It had taken him years to discover the truth and break the brainwashing but once he had, Sasuke needed to know. 

Sakura spoke first. "Where do you want to start, Sai?" Her tone was the more gentle than she had ever addressed him with before.

"Perhaps with something I recently discovered. As you know, four years ago, we discovered something that indeed showed I had been somehow connected to the Uchiha clan..."

Sasuke felt his anger rise, and calmed it. So Sai was going to start with that...

"I found the hidden birth certificate." My father was an Kei Uchiha, a first cousin of Mikoto Uchiha, Sasuke's mother. He had a relationship with a non ninja, an artist by the name of Takemi Yosano. This relationship was strictly forbidden by Uchiha clan rules, that mandated relationships only within the clan. It had been a mere passing fancy for Kei Uchiha, who had faithfully pledged marriage to Fugaku Uchiha's younger sister. However Kei Uchiha died during the Kyubi's attack, before they could marry. Perhaps unknown to the Uchiha clan, Takemi Yosano gave birth to a child six months earlier, a boy. She listed Kei Uchiha as the father, but someone hid the certificate away. When the boy was five years old, his mother mysteriously died of a sudden illness. The next day Danzo found me. I was taken in and trained to be part of Root. I was never told of my parentage and was taught to suppress all emotions and memories of my life before Root, including my name."

"Do you have this certificate with you?" Tsunade asked.

Sai nodded and pulled the paper from his pocket. He handed it to Sakura. Sakura tested it for authenticity. "It's real"

"You want this entered into the official records?" Naruto asked, nearly as gentle in his tone as Sakura had been.

"If Sasuke kun is comfortable about it" Sai replied.

"Put it in, enough with Uchiha clan secrets." Sasuke said gruffly. 

"Duly noted." Shizune said softly, as she stamped "unclassified" on this section of the meeting's notes.

"Go on" Naruto said to Sai.

"A couple of years after I became part of Root, I met my distant cousin, Itachi Uchiha."

Sasuke closed his eyes. He wished heartedly he didn't have to be here for the next part. It was bad enough to read Sai's written notes on this. They had only been a copy so he could destroy it after he read it. It had been hell to finish it, and a relief to burn the papers, but the memory remained.

Sakura noticed Sasuke's reaction. "Wait, Sai, before you go on. Sasuke, you know this part of the testimony already, don't you?"

Sasuke's eyes were still shut but he answered. "Yes, Sai told me, just before the invasion."

Naruto looked at the man he considered his brother and saw the intense pain radiating from him. "Anyone who has read this part of Sai's testimony can leave. We'll take a break after this."

Sasuke stood up with relief, Naruto and Sakura had given him an out of this that didn't make him feel shamed. "See you at Ichiraku's then" He smiled faintly and left.

Sai waited a minute until everyone settled in again. "Itachi Uchiha became part of Root. He wasn't brainwashed like I was, but Danzo did manipulate his curiosity. Itachi Uchiha discovered the darkest secrets of his clan and it eventually drove him to homicidal madness. This served Danzo's plans excellently. Wiping out Konoha's elite police force made it that much easier for Danzo to set his plans into place. Sasuke Uchiha, although a genius wasn't considered much of a threat by Danzo, at first. His skill levels were not at his brother's level at his age or later. Danzo thought he'd be a weak Uchiha. He did not realize Itachi had set into motion a drive that would make Sasuke eventually surpass his brother, but at great cost."

"So Danzo caused the massacre, if you really look at it." Naruto was stunned. Danzo wasn't a good man by any measure, but this was even more shocking, in way, than his last betrayal. This was Orochimaru level of evil. "He deserved to die, the things he did!"

"Agreed" echoed around the room.

"We'll take the official panel vote when we come back and we're all here again. Meeting recessed!" Naruto said with relief


	10. Chapter 10

-1Everyone tried to take their minds off the mornings testimony at Ichiraku's. Since Naruto became Hokage, Tenuchi had moved into a larger place and now had a number of staff assisting him. Ichiraku had become a quite popular place to eat since Naruto became Hokage. But despite it's popularity it had been almost empty when Sasuke had arrived shortly before the lunch hour.

It was still fairly quiet when Naruto arrived with the others. Sakura had their baby Saori with her now. The baby was asleep with her left hand opening and closing reflexively. Naruto paused as they entered the restaurant and stroked his daughter's cheek. Sakura smiled up at him as the baby smacked her lips in response.

When Ayame saw their new customers were the Hokage and some of his advisers and council members she hurried over.

"Hokage sama" she said bowing "we are honored to have you and your friends here today. Would you like us to close for a private party?"

"Nah,, it's okay. Anything we say here will be public knowledge by tomorrow anyway." He grinned and made his way to a table. Normally he'd eat at the counter, like when he was growing up, but Sakura had the baby with her today, so table it was.

Sai sat down at the counter next to Sasuke. Jiraiya had joined Tsunade and they sat down at the table next to Naruto and Sakura's.

"It's for the best that Root has finally been eliminated. It bothered me that Danzo would try to work against you in dangerous ways. Not just for you, but for Konoha." Jiraiya said.

"I just wish he had made a big enough misstep when I was Hokage, that we could have ended his plots then. Now, he may be gone and Root eliminated for good, but he left Konoha itself vulnerable, and cost us plenty in repairs." Tsunade looked frustrated, for once she agree with Koharu, it was too bad Danzo had no savings to speak of and no clan. Danzo and all the dead members of Root's funds were seized and went straight to the repairs but it still put the village funds into the red.

"It's alright baasama, we'll come back stronger than ever soon." Naruto smiled charmingly at Tsunade.

Damn, he was getting so good at that charm she couldn't even stay mad at that baasama. Tsunade groused to herself. He's definitely becoming more like his father the longer he's Hokage. She mustered a disgusted look but said nothing.

Naruto grinned back and put his arm around Sakura's shoulders. Sakura just rolled her eyes at her husband's antics. 

Jiraiya was proud of the man Naruto had become. If only Minato could see how his son is now. He's even learned how to charm the ladies nearly as good as his father could. That probably comes from his wife. She taught him that she liked the lady charmer that lurked inside him. Once he saw how effective it was with his wife he learned how to use a small measure of it to charm almost anyone. He's more overt in his masculine aura than his father was, but that's Naruto's way, what was irritating when he was a kid is part of his charm now. It's been tempered by maturity and those he has the closest bonds to as well.

Not many people ventured into Ichiraku's despite it staying open. The villagers saw who was gathered there and respectfully gave them a measure of privacy. A couple of the bolder gossips ventured in and took in every thing they could possibly hear.

After a leisurely hour and a half the inquiry committee resumed.

"So how did the brainwashing techniques break down?" Sakura asked forthrightly.

Sai nodded in approval of her coming straight to the point. "It first started to break down when I became part of Team Kakashi. Even on the first day things happened that were unexpected." Sai gave a true slight smile.

Sakura blushed, remembering how she had lost her temper so badly at Sai's needling that she had punched him and sent him flying, but smiled, remembering how she had taken the young ANBU member by surprise.

"Naruto kun reminded me of my only friend in Root, my sempai who I thought of as a brother. It eventually broke through to where I was sad my sempai had died. I was trained to shut everything related to emotions down tightly and to forget. This was drilled into us over and over. But once that crack was made I felt like I didn't want to close it."

Sympathetic looks were on the faces of all in the room. All had experienced loss of those they loved. As painful as it was, to think of being taught to feel nothing for the death of those one loved was far worse.

"Then I felt I wanted to learn to be friends with Naruto kun and Sakura san. I was warned friendship was a bad thing, leading only to disaster, but now I began to doubt Danzo's words."

Naruto and Sakura smiled at each other then at Sai. Sakura knew it was mostly Naruto that Sai wanted to be friends with, but if he had some small value in wanted her friendship too, that was a good thing, especially if it had helped him break Danzo's brainwashing.

"The longer I was friends with them the more I realized Danzo was wrong. I did not let him know I was no longer loyal to him, but was doing as I should, being loyal to Konoha. I waited until he finally acted out his betrayal of Konoha before I eliminated him. I let him die knowing how low a traitor he was."

Sai did not mention the nightmares that began to haunt his nights as his memories returned. That was a personal thing that he had only shared with Sasuke kun. They often spoke of their nightmares to each other. That sharing had started when they became the four person team with Naruto and Sakura. The four of them often split into two teams. Naruto and Sakura, their first team nickname- Team Day, would take overt actions, and even incorporated their passionate nature into distractions. Enemies would let down their guards, thinking the couple were no threat, a major error. Naruto and Sakura on their own had taken down enemies that way, but if more firepower was needed, Team Night, Sasuke and himself, would swoop in and strike terror into the enemies hearts. That was how they began to be called the "Legendary Four".

It was while they waited in hiding on missions that the sharing of nightmares started. He couldn't shake a nightmare of his mother's death, watching her waste away in a matter of days, unable to do anything to save her. Speaking of that to Sasuke kun though had made the images easier to cope with. At first Sai was not sure if the nightmares were just that or real memories- eventually he realized this was how his mother had died. Sasuke had listened without comment during the nightmare recounting then had simply said, "I have nightmares like that too." From then on they regularly spoke of their nightmares and horrifying memories.

Naruto adjourned the inquiry special committee and they returned to the council chambers. The information was given to the council then they adjourned to read the committee notes. One hour later they met to make their decision.

Naruto was somewhat annoyed that he had to speak this in the formal style demanded by the council, but he smiled broadly as he said it; "ANBU member who has chosen to remain as his designation- Sai, is acquitted of all blame in the execution of the traitor Danzo. His actions are deemed not only justified but an example of true loyalty to Konoha." 

Sai bowed low to the council and allowed himself a real smile.


	11. Chapter 11

Decided to do the chapter that is most likely to be contradicted by canon storyline soon ;) This chapter takes place right around the time in the current manga.

Rain or Shine  
Chapter 11

It was a hard won victory. Sakura carried a still unconscious Naruto on her back. She vehemently insisted no one else could. She sent tendrils of healing chakra into his body as they traveled. He would live and recover, hopefully nearly completely, but using nearly the full power of the Kyubi had done this to him. Her eyes teared up at the burden Naruto carried inside him.

The other part of the Kyubi power had given him full control over the Kyubi, but he had even admitted that he feared that much power, because he knew how deadly it really was to his body. He understood why half the power had been sealed away. Despite this fear, when it looked like Sasuke would die by Madara's hand, Naruto had acted, pulling on that power. It had saved Sasuke.

After the battle, Sakura had immediately leapt to Naruto's side and began healing him. It was only when she knew he would recover eventually, that she stopped pouring chakra into him at full strength, and allowed the return to Konoha to begin. This was the first time she had exerted her power as a medic nin. In these situations, a medic nin as high ranked as she had become in that structure could overrule a Jonin squad leader. She had also exerted that power in demanding to be the one that carried the unconscious Naruto back.

Sasuke looked at his former team mates. He could tell Sakura had finally grown up and realized she was in love with Naruto. He knew that was destined to happen eventually. She and Naruto had always been a pair, from the first day they had become a team. Naruto might not be that bright but he saw things. Naruto had been right to feel drawn to Sakura. Sasuke wondered why they kept feeling they had a bond with him, he was nothing like them. His replacement, that Sai guy, fit better with them than he ever did. Yet, even after Naruto and Sakura had obviously become a couple, they still didn't give up their bond to him.

Sasuke closed his eyes forcing back a wave of hopelessness. Kakashi, Sakura and even Naruto had been right. The fulfillment of his revenge against Itachi had left his heart in ashes. His clan had been avenged. But the truth about the Uchiha clan had left him with nothing to feel a sense of pride about.

Uchiha Madara, whose soul had somehow possessed the body of Uchiha Obito, was the clan founder and a monster. Obito had been one of the least dark of the Uchiha, so it made that possession that much more obscene. Madara made Orochimaru look like a small time villain in comparison, the same with his brother. Itachi had fought, but Sasuke had felt something was different about his brother; the despair that came off him in waves was disturbing.

Itachi had made sure his brother's fatal blow would give him time to confess many things. Itachi's words had saved him from Madara's power. But it was Naruto that had ultimately killed Madara. Sasuke felt no anger that Naruto had made the fatal blow. Sasuke had been so sickened by what he had learned of the Uchiha, that he was frozen with despair. Madara gleefully confirmed everything Itachi had said; when it was clear Sasuke would never fall under his sway. Sakura had thrown him over her shoulder and retreated while Naruto drove in and finally ended the true monster's life.

Kakashi still couldn't get over the shock of seeing the kindhearted Obito's body inhabited by that human monster, Madara. Unlike his students, apparently even Sasuke, he was old enough to have heard the whispered tales of the dark Uchiha founder from his team mate. Obito had vowed to never be like his great grandsire. The whole Uchiha clan had disavowed Madara after his betrayal of Konoha. There were no memorials to Madara in the Uchiha shrine, and to restore the honor of the Uchiha clan, they had become Konoha's police force.

To see Madara's soul in Obito's body! That, he had a sick feeling, had been Orochimaru's doing. Revenge on Konoha for depriving him of being Hokage, for choosing Minato. However, Madara proved to not be manageable by Orochimaru, he had brought back to life a monster even darker and powerful than himself. That had probably been another reason for his obsession with the Uchiha, to become stronger than Madara.

The only good of this was they had saved Sasuke and he was returning with them. They were the only bonds he could hold onto now. Although, one of his friends, the giant Jyuugo, was coming to Konoha as well. Somehow he and Sasuke had made a true friendship bond. The other two had left as soon as the battle ended.

The kunoichi had been repulsed by Sasuke's hopeless depression and had sneered at what she called "worthless Konoha nin". She struck off on her own, jeering at their bonds to a village, where she was free to go where she liked and answer to no one. The other, a Mist ninja, had shrugged his shoulders and said his goal was to reclaim all seven of the Mist swords and going to some village wouldn't help him do that. He then staggered away under the weight of two Mist swords in the general direction the kunoichi had gone.

Before they left for Konoha, Sasuke had asked a favor for his giant friend. Jyuugo had a problem that he hoped a medic nin could cure. The cure Orochimaru had fooled Jyuugo into believing he would give him.

"What help do you need?" Sakura looked the giant man, who seemed quite gentle.

Sasuke looked at Jyuugo and said, "You can trust her."

"I have this stuff inside me that makes me want to kill. I don't want to kill. Orochimaru used this to create the curse seal, and locked me away. He said my problem wasn't curable."

Sakura looked disgusted, "We'll see about that." Orochimaru didn't care about curing any ills, he liked causing them, she thought angrily. Sakura did a medical scan on Jyuugo. "Hmm, I think Tsunade shishou can cure your problem. I can't cure it, but I can do something that will create a barrier that will keep it from coming out full force. If you'll allow me."

"Yes, you are Sasuke's friend and are kind, please help me."

After she treated Jyuugo and Naruto the team got underway.

Sakura was relieved when they were nearly halfway home Naruto groggily spoke,

"Sakura chan?"

"Uh huh, I'm carrying you."

"Um good."

Sakura blushed. Naruto was only partly concious, but that last answer clearly showed he was sexually aroused by the situation, something she could feel too, by his erection hitting the small of her back with each bouncing motion of riding on her back.

"Did we win?"

"Yep!"

"Where's-"

"Over here, Naruto."

"Too tired, can't move my head"

Sasuke obligingly moved over to the other side of Sakura.

Naruto cracked his eyes open a bit wider and smiled when he saw Sasuke looking at him.

"All together again. We did it Sakura chan."

"We did." Despite everything, her heart did feel lighter.

Back in Konoha things were far more touch and go.

Tsunade felt she was holding onto her emotions by bare threads. She was desperately trying to save Jiraiya's life. He had made it back, barely alive. She had been fighting for his life for over a day. Shizune and all the other medical ninja with high ranked chakra abilities that were available were also trying their best to save him.

"Live Jiraiya! Come on! You have to win out again!" Despite her fierce efforts she could not hold back her tears. They blurred her vision as she poured more chakra into him.

Shizune looked anxious. Tsunade sama couldn't lose Jiraiya sama. Something had happened between them recently. That bond they'd always had became deeper than ever. They loved each other whether they knew it or not. She hadn't been able to save her uncle, being only a small child with no medical training. But this man Tsunade sama loved, she'd do her best to save.

Finally an hour later all the medic nins smiled, they'd saved him. Tsunade felt her legs collapse under her with relief and exhaustion.

"Hokage sama!"

"I'm fine, just exhausted. Can someone carry me to my bed?" Tsunade smiled but wasn't joking. She had exhausted herself.

Shizune looked at her sternly but said nothing to scold. She understood why Tsunade had driven herself to chakra exhaustion. "I think you might want to stay here with Jiraiya sama"

"Okay. Just plop me in a bed, I'm not picky right now."

The other medic nins in the room carefully lifted their Hokage into the other bed in the room. Then Shizune, although quite tired herself did a full scan to make sure she hadn't caused herself any damage. Satisfied that the only problem was exhaustion, Shizune turned off the room lights and let the two Sanin get their rest.

Despite her exhaustion Tsunade worried about Sakura and Naruto. She hoped they were fine, even if the mission to bring back Sasuke failed. She sighed, if she wasn't so tired she would have had a difficult time sleeping.

Sakura had to smile at the Sasuke's obvious concern for Naruto. Even in sleeping arrangements. She was on one side of Naruto, Sasuke the other. Sai was concerned too, he lay his blanket near the their heads. when Sakura was awakened by Kakashi for her watch, she found herself in an embrace with Naruto with his arm around her shoulders, her hand resting on his waist and her head against Naruto's chest. She gently disengaged from the embrace and sat up. Kakashi made no comment about the intimate position Naruto and she had been in, much to Sakura's relief. She blushed lightly with embarrassment, none the less.

While she was on watch she thought about how things had been going, how she and Naruto had fallen deeply in love with each other. Naruto might have feared things would change if and when Sasuke was brought back, but Sakura was sure it wouldn't after the encounter in Grass country.

That was when she knew for certain that Yamato taichou was right, it was Naruto she really loved. Maybe it always had been, but she had denied it because she knew her parents didn't like him for some reason and he didn't fit the "cool" image a girl was expected to like in a boy. Sasuke fit that image, and she foolishly chased after him, hoping he'd take notice of her, so she could be somebody, not just "that big forehead Haruno girl".

Naruto had stepped into her little world and shook things up. Little by little she found she liked the world he was inviting her to. Then she saw under the happy facade he presented to the aching pain inside. She longed to give him what he had given her, complete trust and confidence in him.

Eventually Naruto seemed to realize this gift she was giving and with surprise, reached out to her. He still kept a lot of pain to himself, but she would keep reaching out to that lonely little boy inside him, the little boy that reached out with surprise to the smiling little girl inside her when she had healed him after this latest battle. They must have both dreamed of this again tonight since they were in that embrace when she awoke. That or maybe something more intimate. She blushed, wondering which dream it had been. But now, when she thought of being with Naruto, that intimate way, it felt good and right.


	12. Chapter 12

Finally back to the "home" time period. Saori is three years old. Naruto and Sakura are around 25. Their second child, Haruki, is now five months old.

Rain or Shine

Chapter 12

Naruto jabbed his kunai into the desk and began to carve the Konoha village symbol into it in frustration at the latest ridiculous and irritating note from the council. He was certain that the majority of them got together and came up with more of this nasty and useless crap that neither helped him or the citizens of Konoha. They spent their days closeted away from everyone and the only thing they produced were these pointless demands. How the Third put up with them for so many years was amazing. He knew Tsunade baasama went into rages over this stuff. Naruto glanced up at the much patched walls, a testament to her way of dealing with it.

Naruto felt his sleeve being pulled on, and glanced down to see his daughter looking up at him

"Daddy mad at me?" She looked ready to burst into tears. She'd been playing with her father's hat and had accidentally torn part of the fabric hanging from it. She was afraid her daddy was angry because she messed up the hat.

"Ah, Saori chan, I'm not mad at you." He picked up his daughter and cuddled her; she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged back. He patted her on the back gently. Then he let her sit in his lap.

"You see this?" He pointed to a piece of paper on his desk.

"Uh huh."

"This is what made daddy angry. It's something from the council. They are saying things in it that make me mad."

"Yesterday, when I was with mommy, mommy had to read something. It made mommy angry. Mommy yelled a bad word and called council letters garbage."

Naruto laughed. "They are garbage!" He crumpled up the letter and tossed it in the trash can. "Break time!"

Lifting Saori up to his shoulders, he climbed out the window. Then he bounded across rooftops, Saori holding on tight, squealing with delight.

Saori starting singing a nonsense song about ramen. It was a regular game between them, coming up with bizarre ingredients. Naruto was singing along with her and they were trading off ingredients each verse.

"My ramen has hedgehog in it, hedgehog in it, hedgehog in it, and it's yum yum yum!"

Once they got to the hospital Naruto jumped down to street level and walked in the front door.

One of the nurses bowed low and said, "I'll tell Sakura sama you have arrived Hokage sama."

Naruto smiled at the teenage girl and she lightly blushed, before bowing low again before she left.

Naruto had tried to get the girl to quit with the bowing, but to no avail. Sakura had sighed the first time this happened and told Naruto that the girl had a crush on him. "You are a handsome man, the Hokage, and the girls her age have all read Kitomi's romance story that everyone knows is really about us. You are a young teenage girl's dream man."

It was flattering but also made him uncomfortable. Now he knew what it had been like for Sasuke when they were kids. Except he was a grown man, married and a parent besides. His fangirls were young teenage girls, not so much interested in having him for themselves, but as some sort of awe inspiring ideal man. If this had happened when he was twelve or even fifteen it might have thrilled him, but at twenty-five it felt weird.

Sakura came out of her office cradling their baby boy in her arms. Haruki was a redhead, like his paternal grandmother. He was an adorable boy and seemed to have a happy nature. He didn't seem to mind lots of attention from crowds of people like Saori had as a baby. Although, she had grown used to it now, and liked to show off, just like her daddy. Sakura smiled as her daughter expertly jumped from her daddy's shoulders to the floor then ran pell-mell into her legs and hugged her tight. "Love you, mommy!"

Naruto took Haruki from Sakura's arms so she could pick up Saori. Sakura kissed her daughter on her forehead."Love you too, Saori chan." Saori then pulled herself up to her mother's shoulders. Sakura patiently endured being climbed on, giving her daughter only minimal assistance. Sakura wanted to encourage her daughter's muscle development, and letting her attempt to do minor things like this would do that. Saori probably would have taijutsu as her strongest point as a ninja. It was something she was already showing some aptitude for, so muscle development was where the core of her earliest training went.

Saori had a bright mix of colors in her long straight hair and had inherited her mother's broad forehead, to Sakura's dismay. Her nature though wasn't like Sakura's as a young child, she was a daddy's girl through and through. Her "adoptive" grandparents said she was just like Naruto's mom in her personality.

Sakura wished she could have known Kushina Uzumaki. If his mother had been alive when he was growing up it might have made Naruto's earliest years less painful. But through Tsunade shishou and Jiraiya sama, it was almost as if Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki were a presence in their lives. Jiraiya sama often talked of Fourth Hokage as a boy, and Tsunade would speak of the young Kushina Uzumaki.

Kakashi sensei also talked about Minato sensei fairly often. After Saori was born Kakashi sensei would stop by some evenings and talk about what the Fourth had been like as his sensei and what he had witnessed about the romance of Naruto's parents.

The first time it happened was the day Sakura and Naruto had both finally got out the hospital after the attack on Konoha and the birth of Saori. They had just settled down for their first night at home with their baby. There was a knock on the door and when Naruto answered there was Kakashi sensei standing in the hallway. He looked sort of abashed, and apologized for not visiting them in the hospital.

"I didn't want to interfere with your meetings or with your friends visits, and didn't want to disturb you when you needed rest."

Sakura and Naruto were relieved that something had prompted their former teacher to want to see them. As they had grown up a sort of strain developed, distancing them. After Naruto and she married, they had made an attempt to invite Kakashi sensei out to dinner or over to the house, but every time he had politely demurred. It made them sad, but they accepted that until Kakashi sensei was ready to transverse that, things would remain that way. That night they enthusiastically invited him inside their home.

As soon as they sat down in the living room Kakashi sighed and said , "I wish I could told you about your parents when you were younger" He looked at Naruto. "I neglected saying anything for too long."

"No, it turned out okay. I wondered about my parents, but I'm glad I didn't find out who my dad was until I was almost a grown up."

"I thought it might be too intimidating if you knew before that time."

"Yeah, it probably would have been."

"And if I had talked about what I knew of your mother, Sakura might have gotten curious and investigated who she was and found out your father, then told you."

Sakura blushed. She had been curious who Naruto's parents were, almost from the time their team had formed. She couldn't find any leads though, and no one would give her any clues.

That night had been the first of many visits from their former sensei. He often arrived around supper time, Sakura smirked. He would watch curiously as Sakura orchestrated the creation of the evening meal, telling Naruto what he needed to do to help her; Naruto dutifully following her orders. If Sasuke happened to be there he'd usually get "enlisted " too. That was the most amazing thing to Sakura- both guys following her orders cheerfully. Sometimes Naruto would whine, but it was a playful whine. She knew what that meant and playfully scolded him back. Later, after any visitors had gone home, they'd play in other ways. Sakura grinned mischievously

Kakashi saw the family group heading toward Ichiraku Ramen for lunch, and joined them.

"I'll give you my official report later Naruto, but the outlook is good." Kakashi had just returned from a mission to the restored Whirlpool village.

It was called Whirlpool in honor of the country it had been in. It had been in Fire Country ever since it had been destroyed by invaders, back when Kushina Uzumaki was a ten year old Genin. The Whirlpool refugees had made it to Konoha and were taken in, but they had been treated as outsiders by many. The surviving refugees remembered those bad old days. The response was enthusiastic when Naruto proposed the restoration of Whirlpool village, in his first proclamation after becoming Hokage. Now six years later, Whirlpool was a thriving tourist village with a ninja training outpost.

Naruto grinned at Kakashi words. They would have to take the kids there for a vacation soon. He and Sakura had been there once, on the first anniversary of the restoration project. They walked the streets imagining what his mom's life might have been like in her childhood. They had found out where her home had been and had used their own funds for it's restoration. That home would be a vacation place for them.

Once he handed off the Hokage position to Konohamaru, they could go there a lot. He'd wait until Saori passed the Chunnin exams. He wanted to be in office as Hokage when she took the exam. With all the teachers she'd have, she'd probably pass easily the first time. So in about ten years he could retire.

He smiled inwardly, his 12 year old self would think he was nuts, thinking fondly of retirement. In ten years, Sakura's most promising apprentices would be ready to take on much of the workload, and she could retire if she wanted to. They could time the vacations to when Saori was home from missions and Haruki was on school holidays. They'd still be pretty young and could go back to going on missions, when needed. Konohamaru would probably want him as an advisor as well, so there'd be plenty they'd be doing, but they'd have more free time than they did now.

To think someday they'd really be completely retired, and their kids would be grown up ninjas... It seemed both soon and long time away at the same time. He grinned thinking about Sakura and himself as old, it would be wonderful. They'd spend all year in Whirlpool then.


	13. Chapter 13

-1Continuation from Chapter 12, at Ichiraku's. (Naruto and Sakura are 25, Saori is 3 and Haruki is 4 months old)

Rain or Shine

Chapter 13

Sakura smiled knowingly. "So Kakashi sensei, are you going to stay a bachelor your whole life or have you found someone?"

Kakashi looked uncomfortable, "Eh heh heh, guess my life is about to change."

Ayame blushed, overhearing the conversation. How could have Sakura sama found out already that Kakashi san proposed to her last night?

Tenuchi beamed, at last his daughter would be getting married, and to a great ninja no less!

"So who is it?" Naruto felt embarrassed, he was behind Konoha gossip again, as Hokage he should know all the rumors flying around, especially when it concerned people he knew. Sakura must have just found out this morning, or she would have told him.

Kakashi cleared his throat and blushed lightly. "Ayame chan and I will be getting married in two months."

Ayame blushed and nodded. "Kakashi san is right, he proposed last night."

"Ayame chan, you can just call me Kakashi now."

Ayame looked flustered, "Gomen, I will."

Sakura smiled at the attractive woman, Ayame san had to be feeling the confusion over sudden class elevation with her engagement. Sakura could empathize. The Haruno family wasn't a ninja clan like most of her classmates. Her father's family had a few ninja in it but no one of note in the Konoha history kids learned in the academy. The Haruno ninja had been minor genjutsu users, defensive rather than offensive. If it hadn't been for Tsunade shishou's training and self-esteem building she would still feel inferior inside, even if Naruto had married her and she had become wife of the Hokage. Now Iruka sensei bragged on both Naruto and her to the kids, as examples of ninja who made themselves great. It was kind of embarrassing.

Sakura didn't think Ayame san would want ninja training, but she could help her become accustomed to being part of a ninja family. Two months would be a good start.

"Kakashi ojisan getting married?" Saori asked staring at Kakashi. She had been seated between her father and Kakashi in the booth but now was standing up, looking at him eye to eye.

Kakashi was relieved she no longer pulled down his mask whenever it was in her reach. Perhaps he should abandon the mask when he wasn't on a mission, but he had grown so used to wearing it everywhere over the years. Though, it had been fun to startle people by not wearing his mask when he had walked into his first meeting with the Rokudaime. Naruto, Sakura and even Sasuke's jaws were wide open with shock. He grinned remembering that day. Then responded to Saori's question. "Yes, Saori chan I'm getting married."

"Mommy and Daddy made a bet on if you'd marry" Saori said solemnly while Naruto and Sakura looked completely embarrassed.

"Did Sasuke bet on it too?" Kakashi was amused, if he could have something to embarrass all three of his former students it would make his day.

"No but Sai san did."

Ah, not as entertaining there, that one would just shrug that sort of thing off. "Did anyone else bet on it?"

Saori realized she had done something naughty but not something she'd get punished for, she grinned with a mischievous look. "Yep! Lots! Tsunade baasama, Jiraiya jiisama, Ino obasan, Temari obasan, Tenten obasan, Rock Lee ojisan, Guy ojisan, Kurenai obasan ... I forget the rest..."

Kakashi chuckled. So he was the subject of a bet amongst ninjas in Konoha. He wondered who had bet which way. He could tell Sakura had bet for him getting married, her grin when she brought up the subject gave that away. Tsunade sama likely bet no, considering her luck, which would made Jiraiya sama bet yes. The rest he couldn't guess. He should demand they spend the winnings on wedding gifts...

"Heh, heh" Naruto laughed embarrassedly. "Don't tell me you didn't get involved in that bet I heard about Sakura chan and me, back when we were dating..."

"Eh, well maybe, I've forgotten" Kakashi was nervous again, which bet did he find out about? He hoped it was the harmless one about when and how Sakura would finally tell Naruto she loved him. Surely it wasn't the one Jiraiya sama had roped him into, during the height of Naruto and Sakura's rabbit pair stage... Kakashi felt himself sweating, please don't let be that one!

Sasuke suddenly appeared in full ANBU gear. Kakashi let himself breath a sigh of relief that the subject would be dropped now, before he let the dread of the significance of Sasuke's sudden appearance sink in.

Sasuke didn't take off his mask and addressed Naruto formally, "Sorry to interrupt Hokage, but they want you at an emergency meeting."

Naruto's face immediately turned solemn. "Understood." They, was the council. He stood up.

Saori clutched at his sleeve. "Daddy?" She sounded scared.

Naruto kissed her on the forehead. "It's okay Saori chan, daddy will be back soon."

Sakura was worried but kept her face calm, she nodded at her husband. Naruto leaned over and they kissed quickly. Her hand caressed his jaw as he drew back to go. Even Haruki, who almost always had a smile on his face was whimpering, sensing something was wrong. Sakura cuddled the baby to reassure him.

As soon as they arrived outside the council room Naruto turned to Sasuke.

"Bad news about Mist?" He knew Sasuke would be returning soon from his espionage mission to Mist, and hoped the news was that there was no change. 

"Yeah."

"Your friend behind it?"

"No, Suigetsu doesn't have the power or charisma to lead Mist. He could be aiding them though."

"How much does the council know?"

"Less than you do now. They just know Mist is a threat. The meeting is to give my full report to you and the council at the same time. The council demanded it be done this way."

Naruto sighed.

"Mist has no allies in this, no one trusts them, plus they know we have too many allies and everyone still remembers the defeat of Ame and Iwa three years ago. Wave is already on the situation, Tazuna has deployed Inari and their other elite ninja to be on watch. I recommend sending a support battalion to Wave. I think once Mist knows that they have no allies and Wave and Fire are already aligned against them, they'll back down.

"I agree" Naruto stated. "Let's put the Whirlpool outpost on alert too, send a few extra Jonin if we can spare them."

"Should Suna be alerted?" asked Shikaku Naru. Ever since his daughter-in-law had married his son, Shikamaru, he'd felt a bond to the young woman's people as well as his own.

Naruto nodded. "Not all the details, but a general note that there are some rumblings of trouble from Mist." Naruto knew Gaara was trustworthy, but to satisfy the council members that still remained wary of Suna he proposed this type message. 

Naruto was a bit surprised when he got his first unanimous votes out of this meeting. He knew it'd be a long time before that happened again but it was a pleasant surprise after the news.

He headed back to the Hokage residence after the meeting, Sakura likely was already waiting there with the kids, anxious to hear the news.


	14. Chapter 14

Continuation from last chapter- two months later.  
Rain or Shine  
Chapter 14

"I'm sorry Saori chan, you can't come with us this time. Maybe next time." Naruto tried to placate his daughter.

Sakura sighed. "Thanks for looking after them both Tsunade shishou, Jiraiya sama." It was probably nearly as tough for them to leave both kids behind as it was for Saori to see them leaving without her. It was only for two weeks, but still...

Saori screamed "Kasan! Tosan!" as they left.

Naruto and Sakura were thankful Haruki was still a baby and asleep when they left. They clutched each other's hands tight, their faces tight with anguish over their daughter's cries. Two weeks away... Saori was old enough to have real separation anxiety, especially as neither had gone on missions since before she was born.

Mist had backed down, but the reason why both Naruto and Sakura were going was because this show of strength and alliances had prompted Kumogakure to negotiate a new treaty, one more favorable to Konoha. They were going to Lightning village because the Hyuga clan and others did not trust ninjas from that country. It wasn't surprising, since the last time there had been a treaty, a three year old Hinata was nearly kidnapped and Neiji's father had lost his life.

Going along with Naruto and Sakura were Sai and Sasuke- having the whole Legendary Yonin would make impressive and powerful showing. Their former team leaders, Kakashi and Yamato were along as well. To make up the full contingent Shino and Ino finished out the core team. Both were highly ranked ANBU members, third and fourth respectively.

"Ah, it's great to be going on a mission with you, Sakura." Ino smiled.

"Don't you miss your son?"

"Of course! But I'm a ninja, ANBU no less, it's my duty!"

Sakura sighed. "This is the first time Naruto and I have had to leave Saori at home when we went somewhere, and Haruki too."

"You've gotten too bound to Konoha, Sakura."

"Not Konoha, maybe being a mom. I work an important job, but my kids know I'm always there. That's not typical for a ninja."

"But you and Naruto love living that way. I'm not surprised you do, you were so romantic minded when we were kids I knew once you became a mom you'd retire from active duty. You'd do something in the village where you would be there, even if your husband wasn't."

"Hah, and who did I imagine would be that great ninja husband then?"

Ino and Sakura laughed. "We were so naive! Sasuke didn't want to have anything to do with girls!"

Sakura continued, "You know, when I met Sai, that's when I realized Sasuke was probably gay."

"Really? What was it about Sai that clued you in about Sasuke, they act quite a bit differently."

"You didn't meet him as soon as I did. While he was cruder than Sasuke, the attitude was really similar. Sai didn't hide that he was gay, back when we were kids, I don't know if Sasuke even knew he was gay."

"I didn't." Sasuke smirked at them.

Both Sakura and Ino blushed, embarrassed to caught talking about him.  
Ino recovered first and boldly asked, so when did you figure out you were gay?"

"Not long after I was with Orochimaru, an older girl got me into some sexual stuff. I was disgusted and bored. Nothing degrading for me, and apparently she didn't find it degrading, since she was the one who was doing just about everything."

"Oh." They blushed, vividly picturing in their minds what this girl did.

"Was it that girl that was with you when we found you?" Sakura asked.

"Uh, yeah" Sasuke blushed a bit.

Sakura shook her head and rolled her eyes, "So you were going around with a fangirl even more rabid than me at twelve years old?"

Sasuke laughed, "Yeah."

"That's what made you realize you were gay?"

"Partly. But it was how I felt when guys, uh I don't want to sicken you, but yeah, even when it was Orochimaru, came onto to me." It still disturbed him that someone as evil as Orochimaru could do that to him. Probably the only person in Konoha that would understand that was Anko.

"Oh" Both Sakura and Ino decided they preferred not know any more details about his attraction to Orochimaru.

"When I met Sai, I felt something different. I didn't want to think about it then, my goal was to avenge my clan, nothing else. But after I came back to Konoha, and we were both in ANBU, I recognized some of the same things I could see happening between you and Naruto, were a bit like the feelings I had toward Sai."

Sakura smiled, while Ino kept a neutral expression. Ino was still less comfortable about gay men than Sakura was. Like Naruto, she accepted it, but it just seemed kind of strange to her.

Naruto had quietly listened to the conversation. Yeah it made him a bit uncomfortable, still, that his "brother" was gay, and the thing unsaid, likely for his sake, had feelings for him, but he had accepted it. Sasuke almost never talked about this point in his life. It wasn't good to shut off things forever. The way Sasuke was talking about it was a way that Naruto didn't feel too uncomfortable listening to. He almost laughed out loud though, when Sasuke revealed the kunoichi that had ditched him, was the same crazy fangirl he had mentioned one night when they had gone out for drinks soon after the announcement of Sakura's first pregnancy.

"So, Sasuke, ever been with a woman?" Naruto asked slightly tipsy. He was still sober enough to regret asking that as soon as it came out of his mouth. He was relieved Sakura wasn't with him to see what a drunken ass he was being right now. She'd even been the one to send them off to talk and "be idiots". She wanted to have some time with her best friend, Ino and talk about the babies and "women stuff". Naruto didn't ask what "women stuff" consisted of, he figured it some sort of code words, for "go away I want to talk about stuff with Ino that I don't want you to hear."

Sasuke was drunk enough that a personal question like that didn't bother him, especially coming from Naruto, one of very few people he felt comfortable talking about personal stuff.  
"Yeah some girl at one of Orochimaru's hideouts, she was about 16, it wasn't long after I got there, hadn't turned 14 yet."

"Whoo, was she hot?"

"You probably wouldn't think so, she was 16 but had the shape Sakura had at 12."

Naruto felt a moment's jealousy, did Sasuke have a thing for Sakura, if not now, back when she was still built like a young girl?

"Girls never have interested me, but I was in a weird mood that day and decided to play along and see what it was like. Probably was a side effect of the drugs Kabuto was giving me then. She did all the stuff a woman can do to a guy except for actually doing it. Orochimaru told him to cut something out of the mix when he found out about that girl and me. Sent the girl off to guard the prisoners at a hideout we never went to."

"Harsh!"

"Lenient for Orochimaru"

"True"

Then they had moved onto other subjects then and soon got too drunk to speak or think very coherently. They had staggered back to the Hokage residence and with Sakura's help got inside the door. Sakura said they'd both passed out right inside the door. All he knew was he woke up in the middle of the night cuddled in Sakura's arms. She'd made up the couch in the living room and let Sasuke sleep there.

"Looks like it's about time to make camp for the night." Kakashi sensei's words brought Naruto's thoughts back to the present.

"Yeah."

They dropped down from the treetops and Yamato used his ability to create a simple but secure sleeping lodge.

After they decided the watch schedule they relaxed a while before heading to their blankets.

"I don't know if we can really trust them." Shino ventured.

"They don't have a good history, true, but I think our show of force against Iwa and Ame, and how quickly we mobilized our defenses against the raids along Wave's coast convinced them to reaffirm that they have no hostile actions planned- for their own welfare." Kakashi replied.

"I agree." Sakura said. "We've shown ourselves to be strong and supportive of our allies too, when they've been in trouble, it could be something's going on in Cloud where they'd like to have an ally to come to their aid."

"It's not an external threat, unless Mist has been doing coastal raids on them too." Sasuke responded.

"Hmm, that could be it." Naruto said. "If we not only treaty with them but they offer to be an ally we'd have to help them hold off Mist too."

"Should we ally with them?" Ino asked.

"That's the big question, isn't it?" Naruto responded.

"Yes, we have to weigh what would benefit us best, just the treaty or an alliance." Sai said.

It was kind of a coldhearted way to judge the situation, Naruto thought, but true none the less.

"We don't know for certain they will offer an alliance, remember." Yamato warned.

Naruto nodded. He took first watch with Kakashi sensei. Sakura laid down next to him and clasped a hand with his. He watched her drift off to sleep as he thought about the situation they were going into.

Kumo was a mystery. They had a kind of a harsh society, not as much as Ame or Mist, but harsher than Suna's, much more so Konoha. So few ninja made it through their training that they rarely had more than one or two teams to represent them at the Chunin exams.

Still that was better than Mist or Ame, who rarely had even one team. Mist had ended their training of horrors but it was known their training still was extremely harsh and team friendships were discouraged. Ame insisted on absolute loyalty to the village and no questioning of one's superiors was allowed.

Iwa occasionally had teams, but it was usually not very successful at the Chunin exams- they tended to like breaking too many rules, too obviously. It would be a while before any Iwa or Ame ninja would be allowed to Konoha's hostings of the Chunin exams. They'd finally signed a treaty with Konoha a year ago, but made no other moves to resolve the issues. There was still no trade with either country.

Some message from Iwa arrived before he left and after he and Sakura looked at it, they handed it over to the council. It sounded like Iwa wanted to open up trade again. He'd let the council vote on that without him. He knew the decent people on the council like Tsunade baasama, Shizune san, and Shikaku san would discuss it fully, and even that mean Koharu baasan would at least listen to the discussion. Whichever way they decided Naruto could live with and so could Konoha.

Naruto looked forward to the return after the treaty was signed. They would stop by Wave for a day before heading back home. It'd been years since he'd seen Wave, and he looked forward to visiting with Inari and his mom. He knew Sakura would love seeing them again too. They'd met Inari a couple of times since he became a Jonin but neither his mom or Tazuna san had seen them since that one mission so many years ago. Naruto looked forward to finally seeing the plaque on the bridge that was named in his honor. Just get through the treaty stuff with Kumo and they could leave.


	15. Chapter 15

-1Continuation of last chapter, at Kumo country.

Rain or Shine

Chapter 15

Sakura was stunned, she was having a conversation with the wife of Kumo's daimyo. The Daimyo and his wife had actually wanted to see them. They were famous even in Kumo, not only because of what Konoha had done since Naruto became Hokage, but being part of the Yonin, and unbelievably, Kitomi's novel! They were both pretty young, even younger than Naruto and herself, just 18 and 19 years old.

The Daimyo's wife had read that story and loved it. She had passed the novel onto her husband and he loved the story. When the Daimyo found out it was a fictionized version of how Naruto and Sakura had fallen in love, he had to meet them. The Daimyo's wife begged her husband to come along when he told her what he had discovered.

"The ninja life sound so exciting! I've lived in palaces all my life and never really been in danger, although we are a bit nervous now, with the raids on Kumo from Mist." The young woman then looked ashen. "Oh, my husband told me not to mention that!"

"It's okay. We already suspected as much."

"Oh. But we didn't want to appear weak!"

"Maybe with other Kage from other countries, your concern would be justified. But my husband is not that type Kage."

"We had hoped from that story that this was true, but as it's fiction we wondered."

Sakura schooled her face into a neutral expression but she was shaken. They'd trust a fiction story to give a true character view? They were so sheltered!

"It's a bit idealized. Kitomi left out all the times we acted stupid, lost our tempers..."

The Daimyo's wife just smiled. "Oh of course, it's a romance novel, not a biography. I have heard you now have two children."

"Yes, our daughter Saori is almost 4, and our son Haruki is almost 5 months old."

"Do you miss them?"

"Every second of the day."

"You are a good mother."

"I try my best, sometimes I wonder if I've made the right decisions."

The Daimyo's wife nodded. "I am expecting my first child. I already am experiencing the same doubts. I have heard you are a great medic ninja and were trained by the great Tsunade, your former Hokage and one the Legendary Sanin."

"Tsunade shishou was my teacher, yes. I don't know if I come anywhere near her in my skills."

The Daimyo's wife nodded. So she is as modest of her skills as the writer said. She is said to outshine the great Tsunade. It is known she has trained medical ninja for Suna and Wave as well as Konoha.

"Could you spare a moment to see how my baby is doing?" The daimyo's wife asked.

"Sure."

They were definitely the least snobby Daimyo family Sakura had ever met. The young Daimyo had been spending more time with Naruto than with the Raikage, which either would annoy or possibly relieve the Kage of Lightning Village.

All the negotiations had been with the Raikage and his council. They were polite but it was clear on their side this come from the current situation- it would be a pure business treaty from them. It was a relief that the situation had put them into a place where they wanted straightforward negotiations, not the typical game playing that went on. It was that kind of negotiation where Naruto's people skills shone the brightest. Sakura had been by his side as a part of the negotiations, as she was good at catching nuances. The Raikage's wife had given Sakura some curious looks but hadn't approached her yet. A spouse generally wasn't a Kage's closest advisor, but it had always been that way for them. As soon as they began to train to succeed Tsunade as Hokage and Head Medic Nin, they had taken on those roles, with no real objections, even from the council.

The Kumo Daimyo was enthusiastic for an alliance and wanted to approach this alliance through Naruto rather than Fire Country's Daimyo. Not just from naivety but from something like the gift Naruto had- a skill to see the best possible outcome, and desire to achieve it. It was likely why his belief in the slightly idealized vision in Kitomi's story, wasn't as far off as it could have been. She just hoped Naruto wouldn't be tempted and the Daimyo wouldn't ask, how to do "sexy no jutsu". If it did happen, she earnestly hoped the young Daimyo would keep that display, for his wife's eyes alone...

They might have to make a side trip to Fire's palace of the Daimyo to pass along the message from Kumo's Daimyo. Sakura didn't look forward to it, their Daimyo and his wife were vain and kind of stupid. Thankfully the only time they made an appearance in Konoha was during the Chunin exams. They never spoke more than a few words of formal greeting to the Kage. Naruto had learned to say the rout words back and to bow formally. He tried to engage them in conversation the first couple of times and had received bored looks and stupid responses back.

"I thought I was dumb" Naruto complained after the first time.

Sakura looked around furtively to make sure the Daimyo and his escorts were well out of range, "You were a genius at 12, compared to them."

"Why can't we have one that's a bit smarter."

"Maybe it's good that they are so dumb, look what happened to Suna back when we took the Chunin exam. Their Daimyo had a bit more brains..."

Naruto shuddered. "Yeah, maybe it's better they are really stupid"

Kumo's Daimyo, while maybe not smart, and certainly naive, was a good one. Sakura hoped the best for the young couple.

Despite the unexpected pleasure they had in company of Kumo's Daimyo and his wife, Naruto and Sakura were glad to be heading back home, after almost a week in Lightning village. Negotiations had gone well and a copy of the treaty had been sent ahead via messenger bird to Konoha so the council could look over it. And find things to complain about, Sakura groused in her mind.

As the neared Wave country Naruto got more excited. He could see the bridge named after him! He couldn't wait to be standing on it!

Sakura grinned at her husband, she could see that inner 12 year old all over him. She could see a group of people were gathered at the far end to greet them. She thought she recognized Tazuna and Tsunami, and the tall young guy next them was definitely Inari. Was that a girl with him? Sakura hurried behind just behind Naruto, she was feeling young and excited about being back in Wave too.

"Hey Inari!" Naruto shouted a few feet from the bridge

"Hey, Nar- err Hokage sama!" Inari called back "Don't forget to look at the plaque!"

Naruto laughed "Just call me Naruto!" He stopped at the start of the bridge and read the plaque. "Wow" He whispered, overwhelmed, it was really true, the bridge was named after him.

Sakura hugged him from behind, she was overwhelmed too. He was so happy and she was crying with happiness for him.

"Whoo!" Some Wave country people hooted playfully at the romantic display.

Sakura blushed and stepped back embarrassedly. She quickly brushed her happy tears away and regained composure. Naruto turned around and smiled at her. He took her hand and they crossed the bridge together.


	16. Chapter 16

End of the arc, the day Naruto and Sakura return home. ( Naruto and Sakura around 25 years old in this arc, Saori is almost 4 years old, and Haruki is about 6 months old now.)

Rain and Shine  
Chapter 16

"Little hellion." Jiraiya grumbled. Saori had to be Kushina reincarnated, he thought.

Saori was bouncing on the couch next to him.

"Come on jiisama, show me the jutsu!"

"I'll show you a jutsu!" Jiraiya's ponytail became a hair rope that wound around Saori, and lifted her up in the air upside down.

"Eeeh!" Saori shrieked in surprise, then began to laugh "This is fun jiisama!"

Jiraiya smiled in spite of his tiredness. He'd sat down for a little rest, and the "lovely grandchild" decided it wasn't his naptime. He supposed he better stay alert till Tsunade got back, with a child like this running about. Being Naruto's child she'd probably get into some mischief, and being Sakura's child, it'd probably be something deemed too complicated for her age, that she'd at least half understand. He and Tsunade had already extracted the child from at least 50 such situations in the past week.

He lowered the girl back to the floor and released her.

"Do it again jiisama!" Saori bounced back to her feet and begged him.

Jiraiya grinned and did so.

Well at least I can keep an eye her, he sighed, after the 20th time.

"I'm home!" Tsunade called.

Thank the gods! Jiraiya thought. He released Saori and the child raced to the door.

"Baasama!" The child shrieked with joy.

Tsunade swung her up over her head.

"Again, baasama!'

Tsunade obliged, then settled the child on her shoulders. She smirked at Jiraiya, worn out, yet again, by their hyper "grandchild". Not that she could manage the child much better. It was just as well Naruto and Sakura were due back today. She loved their kids more than just about anything, but taking care of them this long was enough for a while.

"Only a few more hours now, Sakura chan"

She smiled back at him. They were both eager to be back home, even though they had enjoyed the time they had alone on this trip. It felt almost like a honeymoon, they'd fallen back into being like they were then, Naruto grinned leeringly.

Sakura felt that leering approving gaze, and blushed lightly, but smiled dreamily- being the "rabbit pair" again was wonderful. Sakura understood what Ino meant about being too closely tied to Konoha for too long. They should take some vacations from time to time, not for as long as this, but maybe two or three days...

Sakura shook her head, amused at her horniness. Cloud's Daimyo and his wife probably enjoyed the gossip about them. It was about a day after they were in Lightning village that they felt that desire come roaring back full force. Maybe it was being around the Daimyo and his wife, with them being such fans that put their minds in that place. They'd had some very hot nights!

The Daimyo's wife had been especially sweet, giving them really expensive kimonos, not just for Naruto and herself but for every member of the mission, and if they had any children, for their children as well. She had a good eye too, every one of the kimonos for the adults were good colors for the wearer, mixed with colors they liked, in the embroidered designs.

The detour to Fire Country's Daimyo palace had been annoying, but necessary. They delivered the note from Cloud's Daimyo to Fire's Daimyo, did the "proper" respects and got the hell out of there. Even Shino felt he had to expressed an eagerness to leave as soon possible.

Naruto and Sakura weren't the only one's missing their kids, Shino thought. His son had just turned two and made the family compact two days before he left. He was still fitful the day he left. By now he should be adjusted to it. Shino was eager to start training him, and, he admitted, to just hug his son again. His clan were physically standoffish to outsiders, but very touch intensive within the family. More than a few days away made him feel too cut off from his clan.

He missed his wife too. It hadn't been a love match, just the typical clan marriage, but she was a fairly smart girl and he got along with her okay, so they married. His friends had all made love matches, even the ones from clans that would have pressured them to marry within the clan, like the Hyuuga's. Hisashi, though had become quite a reformer in his clan, believing a bit of outsider blood mixed in might make the next generation stronger.

Shino was different from his friends, he hadn't objected to a clan marriage. He doubted if anyone would have wanted to marry into it anyway, considering the compact. But maybe that might change if the clan wasn't so isolated. Maybe his son would have more friends than he did growing up, if he played with other family's children, starting now. Maybe his wife might enjoy some trips into Konoha too. Hinata was pretty quiet. Even though her kids took after their father, Kiba, they were fairly young yet and his wife probably wouldn't mind a couple of noisy kids. He knew Hinata was curious about his wife, he just hadn't thought to ask his wife if she'd like to meet his friends, his clan tended to keep to themselves, rarely venturing into urban Konoha, unless the village was under attack or a student at the Academy. He guessed he had fallen in love over time, since he missed being with her, and not just for the physical contact, but hearing her voice, seeing her smile, watching her with their son...

Ino spotted the first Konoha marker and relaxed, they were safe now, there'd be unobtrusive elite Konoha ninja in front, back and both sides of them the rest of the way home.

"Choji's going to love trying out all these foods I'm bringing back." Ino smiled. She let the feelings of missing him and her son, Chohiko, wash through her. Now that the mission was over and she was almost home, she could indulge it. Still, it had been great to have a mission like this.

She was an elite ANBU, and this B rank mission was more like what she liked. Guess I'm ready to go back on A ranked missions, even though Choji will wish I didn't. That's where we're different. I like A ranked missions, he doesn't. She'd did hesitate at S ranked ones, those were a bit intense, and even before she'd had Chohiko, she turned down the highest ranked missions- she wasn't into almost certain death missions. Those type missions were for ninjas that had no intent of having a family- like Sasuke and Sai. They regularly took those type missions, and came back alive, but no one of their generation, beside Naruto and Ino admitted-Sakura, were anywhere near their class.

Naruto and Sakura didn't like double S or S ranked missions though. They'd done a couple and come back safely, but were relieved that when they dropped out of ANBU, that excluded them from those missions. "They give you nightmares you just can't shake" Sakura said. Ino hadn't gone one yet at that time, and had blown that off as just Sakura's kindhearted nature not being able to hack that kind of mission. After her first S ranked mission, she saw the truth. She had nightmares too, and every one after that gave her another. The nightmares faded after a couple of years, but never fully went away.

Maybe it's better Choji doesn't like to do A ranked, just in case something does happen to me... With B ranked there was some risk, but chances were good that your life wouldn't be in danger. A rank, it was likely you'd get into a battle, and could die, but if you were elite you had a decent chance to make it home safely. S ranks were dangerous even for elites, and double S almost sure death unless you were the elite of the elite, and even then risk was high.

Naruto was hesitant to send anyone on a double S mission, but a few ninja would ask for them point blank, like Sasuke and Sai. Kakashi used to go on them as well, but had stopped about a year ago. Ino figured it was because he was finally seriously dating Ayame. Yamato would take S class but admitted he preferred not to take double S, even though he was still probably elite enough to come home alive. He didn't like the nightmares. He could tolerate S class, but not double S. A few Jonin of the next older generation than hers, like Raido and Yugao were the rest of the group that took S and double S class missions regularly. Most of that group wouldn't admit they ever had nightmares, but if even Yamato admitted he did, she knew they did.

"Hey." Shikamaru greeted them at the gate. He looked at Ino. "Choji went off to get the kid, but he should be back in a minute or two." Ino smiled and waved goodbye to the rest of the team.

"I'll take my leave as well, my clan will be waiting for my return." Shino said formally. "I will bring my mission report in tomorrow."

"You will probably want to see your kids before you meet with the council. The rest of us will go ahead and make our reports to them first." Kakashi said to Naruto and Sakura.

"Yeah." Naruto smiled broadly and Sakura nodded with an eager look. They jumped to the rooftops and bounded toward the home Tsunade and Jiraiya shared.

Tsunade heard them approaching first. "Here come your mom and dad, Saori chan." She smiled and let the child down from her lap. Saori had finally worn herself out about a half hour ago, and had climbed up silently into Tsunade's lap, and soon drifted off to sleep. Word of her parents finally coming home though had her instantly awake and now standing by the door. Her parents were going to surprise her though, they had landed on the balcony. Jiraiya waved that the sliding door was unlocked. As soon as the door slid open Saori whirled around in surprise, then ran full out into her parents arms.

"Tosan! Kasan!" she shouted with joy.


	17. Chapter 17

Leaping back in time again. Wanted to get this out before the manga spoilers for the next chapter comes out for Jiraiya related reasons. Right around current time in the manga.

Rain or Shine  
Chapter 17

Sakura carried Naruto again today. They were almost home. Naruto was awake, but too weak and injured yet to travel on his own power. They'd been talking about random minor things: ramen, favorite plants and flowers, favorite colors, just things to pass the time.

"Sakura chan?"

"Hmm?"

"You love both of us, don't you?"

It took a moment for Sakura to process the question. "Oh!" she said in surprise for this serious question all of a sudden. Not that she hadn't been expecting the question eventually, she was just surprised it had come so quick.

"I understand Sakura chan. I'm happy that you love me too. I'll never push you into choosing between Sasuke and me."

Sakura smiled tenderly, she wished Naruto could see her face right now, but getting to Konoha was more important.

"Naruto, it's true I love both of you, but in different ways. You I want to be with as a couple" Sakura blushed lightly.

"And Sasuke?"

"It's hard to say, I don't know if there's a word for how I feel toward him now. It's more than just friendship but not quite how I feel about you. I don't want to be a couple with him anymore, and well, he never has with me. But I feel a love like for someone in your family you care a lot about. I hope we all stay together again."

"Oh." Naruto smiled, she really loved him, she wanted to be a couple. He kind of understood how she felt about Sasuke too, it was a lot like how he felt. It ran deeper than even the word Nakama implied, but maybe that was the closest they'd come to explaining the bond they felt.

Sasuke had overheard the conversation and found himself agreeing with Sakura's words, they were his family now. I almost lost that bond forever... how could I have done that, rejected that. The revenge just felt so hollow now. Killing his brother didn't ease his heart, his parents would rest no easier. And what he'd learned about his clan made it all seem wrong. If it wasn't for Naruto and Sakura his life would be empty of purpose now.

Kakashi watched his favorite student's face. Sasuke's inner struggle was written clear with the shifting expressions that crossed it. No one would tell Sasuke "I told you so". Sasuke already knew it. He'd do what he could to help Sasuke deal with the repercussions. He'd dealt with feeling shame for his clan, when his father had killed himself over a disastrous mission failure. It was nowhere near what Sasuke was dealing with, all the illusions of his clan stripped brutally away, but he was the only one of them that had dealt with being from a high status clan brought to shame. No one would speak of the darkness of the Uchiha clan, Kakashi would do his best to keep that topic from becoming Konoha gossip again. Sasuke had burden enough dealing with it in his head. He'd speak to Naruto and Sakura about the best ways to help Sasuke through this time.

As soon as they walked through the gates of Konoha Sakura took off with Naruto to the hospital, she motioned for Sasuke's friend Jyuugo to follow her. Jyuugo hesitated and looked at Sasuke.

"Go on, she'll take you to where you can wait for her teacher to help you. I'll be along soon."

Jyuugo nodded and then followed Sakura.

"The Hokage will want to see you in her office." Kakashi said gently.

"Yeah" Sasuke replied. They turned toward the Hokage tower and leapt to the rooftops. Kakashi knew Sasuke would rather deal with a few people as possible right now, so thus the rooftop route rather than the street.

Tsunade was waking up, Ah, still here beside Jiraiya, she thought. She got up from the medical bed and walked over to his. It was a relief to see his color back to normal, and the emergency arm transplant showing no signs of rejection.

She never thought she'd be thankful for that twisted Kabuto's experiments. But yet again, just as with Rock Lee three years ago, she'd been able to use those cruel experimentations in a helpful, humane way. The source of Jiraiya's replacement arm, had been a dying ninja who was one of the many fans of Jiraiya's books. The young man had a congenital disease that was attacking his heart. Tsunade couldn't cure him, just make his last days more comfortable. Tsunade had made sure no trace of the disease was elsewhere in the young man's body before she agreed to his request. Ironically, the arm amputation he demanded he be the volunteer for, seemed to slow down the disease. He may live long enough now for Jiraiya to thank him personally.

Jiraiya had only woken briefly so far, right after Tsunade had completed the transplant and encouraged Jiraiya's own cells to adapt the arm to his body code. His eyes fluttered open in surprise.

"Never thought I'd make it to paradise, Tsunade. But if you're here it has to be."

"Baka. You're back in Konoha, in the hospital." Her tone was gentle, and her eyes soft.

"Didn't think I was going to make it."

"You came close to not."

"You saved me, didn't you."

"I did." Her expression turned firm, she'd brook no criticism from him on this.

"How'd I get an arm back?" He read her expression and decided not to push it, asking instead the question that was next on his list.

"You're too tired now to take in the explanation. I'll tell you the next time you wake up."

"You better." He said sternly, but felt exhaustion overwhelming him. He fell back asleep frustrated.

It was late morning of the next day now. She'd heard commotion in the corridors of hospital and heard both Naruto and Sakura's voices. She smiled, they made it back home alive. One or both of them must be injured though, she thought worriedly. Tsunade brushed her hand across Jiraiya's forehead, then hurried to the admissions desk.

She walked into the room Sakura had already set up for Naruto. She was helping Naruto settle into the bed as Tsunade walked in.

"So you've injured yourself again, Naruto, using forbidden jutsus." Tsunade said sternly.

"Had to, Tsunade baasama. Sasuke, and probably the rest of us too would be dead if I hadn't."

"Hmm." Tsunade said nothing more to scold him. He'd acted as a Hokage would have, after all.  
That made her think, maybe it was time to start his real training to succeed her. Sakura as well. She'd start by raising both their ranks to ANBU. The success of this mission certainly qualified them both. She smirked, Naruto would neatly jump right over Chunnin rank when she did that. After some experience as ANBU she'd put them into regular Jonin ranks. As Hokage she could do this. In a few more years they'd both be ready to succeed her.

"Shishou?" Sakura asked.

"What?"

"This guy here" Sakura pointed to a large young man quietly sitting on the other medical bed in the room, "needs your help. He wants to become a Konoha citizen. He was a prisoner of Orochimaru and has a medical problem that needs treatment."

"Oh. I'll see what I can do." Tsunade walked over to Jyuugo.

"You are the legendary Sannin, Tsunade hime?"

"I am Tsunade. I prefer not to be called princess though. I am the fifth Hokage of Konoha."

"I apologize Hokage sama."

Tsunade nodded. "I see the problem. So you are the source of the curse seal?"

"Yes, can you take it out of me?"

"I can't take it out, but I can turn it off permanently."

"That would make me happy. I don't like killing. I want to have a peaceful life."

"I can't guarantee a peaceful life, but we do try to keep our civilians lives that way. What skills do you have that would be useful as a civilian?"

Jyuugo looked stricken, he hadn't thought that far ahead.

Fortunately for him, that's when Sasuke and Kakashi walked into the room.

"He can talk with and understand animals. They are drawn to him too."

"Ah, I know several jobs you might like then. I believe the best might be helping Hana Inuzuka though. She is Konoha's head veterinarian. She can communicate with dogs, wolves and some cats, but not other animals. I'm sure she'd appreciate your help."

Jyuugo looked relieved. A job where he'd always be around animals, he'd like that.

"We looked for you in your office, but they said you were here." Kakashi said.

"Yes, I've been treating some patients the last couple of days." Tsunade sighed, "I'm sure my paperwork is 3 meters high now, unless Shizune is taking care of it." Then she turned to Sasuke and looked him straight in the eyes with a stern expression, "So you have returned to Konoha now Sasuke Uchiha?"

Sasuke winced at his family name. "Yes, Hokage."

"You realize the council will expect some sort of serious punishment for your desertion of Konoha?" She pointedly let the hint drop that she wasn't necessarily going to punish him severely.

"Yes."

"What will you offer to Konoha in compensation?"

"My complete loyalty, unquestioned, and all the Uchiha properties, except for the family shrine and my home."

Tsunade was stunned at the second part, she was going to suggest some monetary compensation, but nothing so large as that. The Uchiha clan owned a significant sized sector of Konoha. That would definitely mollify most that had turned against him on the council. She could probably get away with a mild form of house arrest and probation for punishment now. If he proved as loyal as he said, she'd like to get him into ANBU with Naruto and Sakura as soon as possible. Perhaps a bit of creative retelling of the truth would lessen the time of his house arrest and probation would have to last...


	18. Chapter 18

Continuation from the last chapter- one week later.

Rain or Shine  
Chapter 18

Naruto was overjoyed, finally out of the hospital, although, having Sakura chan as his doctor had been great. He grinned, she had learned just how good he'd become at flirting, once he knew she welcomed it. She flirted back after the first time, except when she had just come from a patient who had been very ill, especially if it was a small child. Those times she'd smile back but the light wouldn't reach her eyes. Those times he'd smile back and just be friendly the rest of the time she was there.

"So do you want my company going back to your apartment or do you want to enjoy your freedom, alone." Sakura smiled flirtatiously.

"Let's make it a date" He grinned ear to ear.

"Ooh a date, I'll have to think about that" She said mock seriously, then grinned back, "And my answer is..." she paused dramatically, "yes!" She laughed and he soon joined in.

He was thoroughly enjoying this new stage of their relationship, and he had a feeling she was just as much. He was seeing a side of Sakura that she'd only shown him hints of before, and he really liked that side of her!

"Let's visit Ero Senin before I go home Sakura chan."

"Okay."

"Hey Naruto." Jiraiya smiled good naturedly as they came into the room. "And you're Sakura, right?" Jiraiya's smile turned into a grin, and he wagged his eyebrows at Naruto. So the boy finally had done it, won the girl over. There was no doubt about it, the girl was as sweet on Naruto as he was her.

Sakura rolled her eyes, but politely answered "Yes, I'm Sakura, Jiraiya sama."

"You should take lessons from your girlfriend Naruto, she knows how to speak with the proper respect."

"Ehh" Naruto just looked at Jiraiya disgusted. Sakura smiled with amusement.

"So what's up?"

"Sakura chan says I can go home today."

"Ah, lucky. I'm stuck here at least another week, and after that stuck at my place in Konoha for another month, all bed rest except for light exercise one hour a day. Tsunade says my days as Konoha's best spy are probably over." Jiraiya looked depressed at the last, he sighed, "Guess it will be training someone to succeed me from now on." Then he smiled briefly, "That and training you more seriously, Naruto. There are things I want to see if you are capable of, they'll help you in becoming Hokage." Jiraiya had that rare utterly serious expression on his face as he said that. "There's things you should know too, you're old enough to understand now, I think."

"What?" Naruto looked overjoyed, serious training from Ero-Senin, not the half-assed training he'd got before.

"Wait till Tsunade gets here, she should be coming to check on me any minute now."

Sakura was intensely curious what sort of knowledge Jiraiya sama was going to pass along to Naruto, maybe if she made herself unobtrusive he'd forget she was here and she could hear it as well...

Tsunade walked in and saw Naruto and Sakura were visiting Jiraiya. Good. It was time Naruto knew about some things. Sakura should know as well, not only because she'd retain everything they said, but because of her relationship to Naruto. It was obvious those two would eventually marry, and Sakura should know these things as Naruto's partner. Tsunade looked significantly at Jiraiya and he nodded.

"Naruto, Sakura, what Jiraiya and I are about to tell you must remain a secret from others for right now. If you want to tell Sasuke, I think that will be okay, but not anyone else yet."

This had both Naruto and Sakura wide eyed- a secret that important? What could it be?

"I suppose we should start from the beginning, Jiraiya."

He nodded, "You want to begin it?"

She nodded back. "It begins during the Great Ninja Wars. Do you both remember hearing about the lost Hidden Whirlpool village in your history class?"

Naruto looked confused, but Sakura nodded.

"Okay, remind him about that history later Sakura."

"Yes, shishou."

"Whirlpool was one of our few allies at that time. Jiraiya and I were young Jonin then, not that many years older than you two are now." Tsunade left out Orochimaru from this tale, although still very much part of the Legendary Three at that time, he wasn't important to this tale. "Too late we got news of a devastating attack on Whirlpool by Mist. There was nothing we could do to save them, other than take in their refugees."

Naruto looked sad, why hadn't he paid attention to this story in class? It was such a tragedy- to lose your village! Iruka sensei must not have told the story as well as baasama is now...

Jiraiya jumped in at this point, he'd been at the gates during most of the refugees arrival, his Genin team was pulling duty with him. "One of the first arrivals was a Genin about 11 years old with bright red hair leading six younger children, including an infant."

"That Genin's name was Kushina Uzumaki." Tsunade added.

"Uzumaki?" Both Naruto and Sakura said with surprise.

"Yes, Uzumaki. That Genin would become your mother, Naruto."

"Wow so my mom was from Whirlpool, and you said she had red hair?"

"Very red hair." Jiraiya grinned.

"But, I'm-"

"Blond, yes we're getting to that."

"Okay"

"Your mother's personality was a lot like yours Naruto. She had a quite a reputation as a tough little tomboy."

"But she grew and became very beautiful."

"You liked her from the start Tsunade, why?" Jiraiya asked.

"She reminded me of Nawaki."

"Ah. Now it makes sense. She was your unofficial apprentice for a while too, wasn't she?"

"Her chakra abilities just didn't work with medical ninjutsu, but I trained her on advanced fighting techniques, yes."

"Wow, shishou! You taught Naruto's mom!" Sakura felt this joyful warmth that she had sort of a connection to Naruto's mom, even as tiny as that they had both apprenticed to Tsunade shishou.

Tsunade smiled and nodded.

"Now, the next things I tell you may shock you, it's going to change how you might look at things." Jiraiya stated, then plunged on. "Your mother was friends with your father when they grew up. As with many friendships of that type, between a boy and girl, eventually they fell in love. Your father was one of my Genin students, actually the most promising one-"

Sakura gasped, her mind made the leap, Naruto's father was-

"Minato Namikaze, who you know as the Fourth Hokage."

Naruto's eyes bugged out. "The Fourth was my dad?"

"Yes."

"Why was I named Uzumaki?"

"For your safety. You already had the burden of being a Jinchuuriki, we did not want you to also have the burden of being the Fourth's son, until you were ready for it. Tsunade and I decided that now you are."

Naruto was too stunned with this news to say anything. Sakura took his hand and gently squeezed it. That made him look at her. She smiled comfortingly at him. It was a bit much for her to take in at moment as well, she had just learned to cope with shocking news better than he did.

"Guess we'll leave it at that for now."

In a sort of daze Naruto followed Sakura back to his apartment. Repeatedly he stared at the Hokage mountain, at the Fourth's image. "My dad..."

Sakura gently guided Naruto up the stairs and into his apartment. He sat down on the couch, still in a daze. Sakura sat beside him and leaned against him. That brought him out of the daze and he wrapped his arm around her. That sat like that, in silence until it started to get dark.

"Naruto, lets get something to eat, even if it's just ramen."

"Got some instant in there" He nodded toward the kitchen.

"Okay, come on." She gently pulled him into the kitchen.

He noticed it was dark out by then. "Sakura chan, you don't have to do this, I promise I'll eat." He said as she boiled the water for the ramen, "You probably want to go home now."

"Nope! I'm staying here tonight." She turned around and smiled at him.

"Sakura chan..." His voice was soft, and he looked at her with a combination of need and wonder.

"Nowhere else and no one else I'd rather be with."

"I'm awful company right now, Sakura chan."

"I'm kind of overwhelmed too."

"Do you- does it make you regret that you love me?"

"No! Not for a second!"

"They were right to wait to tell me. I feel weird. Got to think through things, and it's so hard!"

"Yeah."

They ate the ramen in silence, but their minds were racing, trying to put the pieces together.

"I feel happy, sad and totally confused all at the same time" Naruto said softly

"A bit angry too?"

"Yeah, and that makes me feel guilty"

"Me too."

They fell silent again. "Maybe we should just go to bed and try to get some rest, think about more in the morning." Sakura offered after a while.

"Yeah" Tiredly, he went to the closet and pulled out a spare sheet and blanket. He laid it on the couch. "Sakura chan, the couch is more comfortable than my bed, please sleep here, I'll take the bed."

"You're still recovering from your injuries, the more comfortable place should be yours"

"Bed's better, easier to get out of, the couch is too soft, you sink right down in it. I like it when I just want a nap, but for real sleeping I like my bed better."

"Okay." He looked so tired and overwhelmed she conceded. He was right about recovering from injuries though, a firmer bed would be easier to get out of. Impulsively, she hugged him before he left for his bedroom, his arms came around her and he hugged her tight for a moment. Then he released his arms and stepped back.

"Good night Sakura chan."

"Good night Naruto." She followed him and watched till he settled into his bed, then turned around and headed back to the small living room. she lay on the couch, listening until she heard his breathing change to a light snore. Only then did she feel she could relax into sleep. As she drifted off to sleep, she thought- I'm going to move in with him.


	19. Chapter 19

Continuation from chapter 18, the next morning

Rain or Shine  
Chapter 19

Sakura had just walked back to put the spare pillow and sheet back in Naruto's room when the doorbell rang.

Naruto mumbled, half asleep "Go away, come back later."

Sakura chuckled, and hurried to the door. She was surprised to see Sasuke standing there when she opened the door. She blushed lightly at what he had to assume seeing her there, but decided to brazen it out and say nothing in explanation. He had no idea that this was the first night she had ever spent at Naruto's apartment. As far as he knew she and Naruto could have been lovers for a long time. She realized her perverted side was taking great joy in letting this likely assumption stand, but somehow that didn't bother her at all. It'd be the truth very soon anyway. She was going to buy a full sized bed today and announce to Naruto she was ready to move in with him. Naruto enjoyed her forthrightness, and she knew it was time, they were ready for this step now. The last week, while she was his doctor in the hospital had already set it in her mind, and yesterday confirmed it.

"Hokage wants to see you in about an hour."

"Just me, or Naruto too?"

"Both of you. It's probably about her plan to make us all ANBU. She already told me about that when I met with her this morning. My strict probation ends today, tomorrow I become an probationary ANBU member. You two get to skip any probation and go straight into training- if you want to be ANBU."

"I want to, and I'm sure Naruto does too, it will help him train to become Hokage."

"Hey, Sasuke." Naruto had finally made it out of bed. He scratched his head and yawned. "Come on in. I'm going to eat some breakfast, want some too?"

"Already ate."

"Oh, well come on in anyway. You said Tsunade baasama wants us to be ANBU?"

"Can't stay. Your other team leader wants to talk to me about what I'll be doing in ANBU during my probation period."

"Yamato taichou?"

"Yeah, him."

After Sasuke left, Naruto asked, "So when do we have to be there?

"About an hour."

After a quick breakfast on the way to the Hokage tower, they climbed the steps upward. Sakura wondered if Tsunade shishou was going to tell them more about Naruto's parents. She had a feeling that she was leaving possibly telling Sasuke, to them.

Tsunade smiled when she saw Naruto and Sakura come into her office a bit early. She motioned to three large boxes behind her. "Those are for you. They are your parents' things that Jiraiya was keeping for you until you were told the truth, Naruto."

"Wow" Naruto could barely contain his excitement, yesterday it had been a shock to find out who his parents were, especially his dad. Today, though, curiosity had won out. He couldn't wait to see what was in those boxes. "You carry all three those boxes here in one trip?" Naruto asked with a touch of awe. He assumed she went to Jiraiya's apartment after meeting with Sasuke.

"No, but thank you." Tsunade chuckled at his awed assessment of her strength. Well, well, looks like he's inherited a bit of Minato's personality after all- he's beginning to learn how to charm a woman in a friendly way, by praising things she's proud of. Tsunade gave him a knowing look but smiled all the same. She admitted, she was charmed by his praise.

Naruto grinned back, he hadn't seen baasama act that way before to something he said, but he knew now she really liked having her strength praised. Maybe that would save him from being yelled at so much by her in the future when he said something stupid...

Sakura was stunned at this exchange, Tsunade shishou was happy about being called monstrously strong.

Tsunade saw the look on Sakura's face and her smile faded. That awful man that was Sakura's father, making her ashamed of her new found strength! Sakura was able to tune out most of her mother's nasty words now, but "daddy" wasn't around as much, but could still strike right at that girl's heart with his cutting words.

Sakura had told her of the incident that still made her sensitive when someone expressed shock at her strength. It was the day after Sakura's 15th birthday, she had just walked in the door when she saw her father struggling to hold a shelving unit from falling over on him. She acted immediately, running over and pushing the heavy unit back upright. Her father, instead of thanking her, yelled: "How monstrously unfeminine! You aren't a lady at all!" In shock Sakura stood frozen to the spot, then fled in tears toward her room, but her father wasn't done yet, "Get back here and close that door you left standing wide open, you irresponsible child!" Sakura complied and closed the door, then hid in her room the rest of the night. She slipped out early the next morning, before her parents awoke. Tsunade found Sakura sitting outside her office when she arrived for the day's work. The child told her tale with a mix of sorrow and anger at the unjustified "scolding" she received for saving her father from getting hurt.

Tsunade had to contain her rage, if it would have been of any help to Sakura she would have given that man a piece of her mind, and punished him. But then the better solution came to her. He was of Genin rank, so she sent him off on a C ranked mission, delivering a message to Tazuna in Wave Country. She said nothing to him about how well Sakura and her team mates were regarded there, she wanted the man to hear it for himself, that people in other countries had fond feelings for his daughter and the team she served on. With as hard hearted a man as him she didn't know if this mission had any beneficial effects. Sakura still carried the emotional scar of that day, along with every other "scolding" she had received. Tsunade did what she could to raise her self-confidence and was proud to see the young woman was indeed becoming more confident, except for that bit about her physical strength. But now Tsunade saw something that gave her hope, Sakura's expression was changing from shocked to a tentative smile and she was looking at Naruto as if she was realizing something. Naruto looked a bit confused at Sakura's expression, but then broke into a grin. Sakura's smile reached her eyes then. Tsunade decided she should leave the rest of that discovery for them in private. She brought their attention back to her.

"Now, about the ANBU promotion, I'm sure Sasuke gave you the basic information, right?"

They nodded.

"Do you want to accept it? This is completely your choice, you won't be punished in any way for not taking it if you don't want to. ANBU is very difficult work, and often dangerous."

"We accept!" They both answered enthusiastically.

"Good. Naruto, this will help you in your goal to become Hokage, and with elements of the Akatsuki still out there, being ANBU trained is the best route you can take. We don't know if they still have the same goal with the death of Uchiha Madara, but we have to assume they do."

Sakura moved in protectively close to Naruto with the mention of the Akatsuki.

"There's also the factor of Kabuto, you say he appears to have developed something of an disturbing fascination with you and Sasuke?"

Naruto nodded. Sakura shuddered and clasped Naruto's hand.

"ANBU training should help you, when you encounter him again. That goes for you as well Sakura, and Sasuke too. Sasuke should be able to help both of you in any confrontation with Kabuto. He lived along side the man for almost three years, he'll know weakness better than we do. I think I'll ask him to write a report and train all ANBU on any potential weakness of Kabuto. There's the issue of him taking in part Orochimaru's self as well. Jiraiya and I can help train with dealing with Orochimaru, but Sasuke again would know more on his recent self, so train with him about that too."

"It might be hard to bring up Orochimaru to Sasuke." Sakura tentatively stated.

"I've already spoken to him about that. He knows he will be training you on how to fight an Orochimaru influenced Kabuto." Tsunade's voice was firm but she smiled at Sakura for taking other's feelings into account without letting it derail things.

Sakura had a real skill with that, something she had never mastered, Tsunade thought regretfully. It was the first thing that showed Sakura had promise of leadership skills. It made Tsunade quite confident in Sakura's ability to eventually take on the Head Medic Ninja position and the role of partner and advisor to Naruto as Hokage.

Only her grandfather and Naruto's father had a partner that functioned as advisor as well as spouse or lover. Tsunade had not seen Minato and Kushina during the time he was Hokage, but Jiraiya was a frequent guest in their home. Jiraiya had been talking a lot about them during her visits to his hospital room. He spoke in awe of how in synch those two always were. Tsunade looked at Naruto and Sakura and realized she was seeing the same thing with them.

"So, anything else baasama" Naruto fidgeted, interrupting her admiring daydreaming with his not so charming impatient side. Tsunade grimaced. It'd be a few more years before he was ready to succeed her...

"Naruto..." Sakura chided

"I just want to see what's in the boxes" Naruto whined.

Tsunade softly snorted, definitely a few more years. Then she gestured them closer and whispered "There's also Root to be on watch for. Sakura knows about Root, I'll leave her to inform you and Sasuke of them. Your team mate Sai is a member of Root, he appears to becoming attached to your friendship, but be careful what you say around him. Do not ask him about Root. If he volunteers information listen closely. He may be becoming an ally to us in Root but I cannot be certain. If he should truly become an ally his information about them will be crucial. Do train with him for any techniques he passes along."

They nodded with serious expressions on their faces.

"During your training Kakashi and Yamato will still be your team leaders, but eventually you will become a four person squad made up of yourselves with Sasuke and Sai. Now go, and enjoy discovering what's in the boxes!" She waved them off with a flourish and a grin.

Naruto wasted no time and immediately lifted a box in his arms. "Wow, it's heavy!"

Sakura smiled and picked up the other two with no effort.

Naruto gave her that look of awe and grinned. He said nothing though, knowing how sensitive she was about his exclamations about her strength.

Sakura felt this wonderful warmth inside from the way Naruto was looking at her. He loved the fact she was so strong, she realized, he thought it was a wonderful thing...

They walked back to his apartment, getting few curious stares. Lugging boxes away from the Hokage tower wasn't something normally seen, usually it was boxes, loads of books, etc... heading toward the tower, carried by whatever hapless Jonin the Hokage assigned the job.

"What's in the boxes?" Ino couldn't resist asking as they passed by.

"Some stuff Tsunade wanted Naruto to have. We don't know what's in them. We're taking them back to the apartment and sort through them."

"Ah, probably training books, weapons and stuff like that then." Ino lost interest in the boxes and grinned at Sakura using the word "we" when referring to Naruto and herself. She knew Sakura, that could mean only one thing. They were officially a couple. She was going to do a little spying to see just how far their relationship had gone. But Ino wasn't about to let Sakura know that she had figured it out. Time to make an exit before she picks up on me knowing! "See you later! Dad said he wanted to eat lunch with me today and talk about my plan to ask Tsunade if she'd like me to become part of ANBU."

"Really? You have to ask! She's already asked Naruto and I to join and Sasuke too. If you join too we can train together again, like back in the Academy!"

Ino grinned. "I'll have to tell Dad that. I think he's worried that ANBU will be too dangerous for me. I'll tell him you're already in, that should make him realize I can handle it too." She waved goodbye and ran off in the direction of her favorite restaurant.

This day is turning out pretty good, Sakura thought. It would be good to work with Ino in ANBU. Teams were mixed around more in ANBU, so she and Ino would likely be on some missions together. Sakura hoped Tsunade shishou would say yes to Ino's request.

After they were about halfway to the apartment Sakura was startled when Sasuke lifted one the boxes from her arms and joined them.

"Hey, I can manage both boxes."

"Yeah, but I'm curious what's in these boxes too. I saw them in the office this morning but just thought it was some medical research stuff she was going through. So it's something she's giving you, Naruto?"

"Yeah." Naruto was afraid to say more out in public, afraid he'd let something slip that had to stay a secret for a while longer.

"We'll tell you more once we get there."

Sasuke felt his arms aching by the time they reached the landing in front of Naruto's apartment. Naruto was sweating and was relieved to set the box down in the apartment's living room. Sakura was the only one of them that didn't look the least tired. Sasuke and Naruto sat down on the floor and rested while Sakura opened the boxes. Before she pulled anything out she looked at Naruto. "Lets tell him now, before we start on the boxes."

"You do it Sakura chan, I'd probably tell it all jumbled up and confused."

"Okay." Sakura took a deep breath, first the basic facts. "Tsunade shishou and Jiraiya sama told us who Naruto's parents were. These boxes are the things Jiraiya sama saved of theirs."

"So they knew your parents, Naruto, and didn't tell you until now?"

"Couldn't have handled it until now." Naruto mumbled in defense of them

"Couldn't have handled it? Who were they?"

Naruto looked at Sakura, she nodded, she could handle this.

"Naruto's dad was Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage."

Sakura almost burst into giggles at Sasuke's startled look.

"The Fourth?" Then Sasuke really looked at Naruto and thought of the pictures he'd seen of the Fourth. It was obvious if you knew, Naruto looked so much like that guy in the pictures. Not exactly alike, but close enough for their to be no doubt who his father was. "Yeah, it's weird, none of us figured it out. I guess none of us really thought about it."

Naruto nodded. "I didn't"

"I tried to find out, one time. I felt sad you didn't know and I wanted to help you. I didn't find anything then." Sakura admitted.

"Bet they hid stuff so you won't find anything. They probably knew what you were looking for." Sasuke replied.

Sakura nodded.

"So what about your mom, Naruto? I don't remember our history classes mentioning the Fourth had a wife."

"It didn't." Sakura answered. "Naruto's mom was named Kushina Uzumaki."

"Uzumaki? Does that mean they weren't married? Or were you called that to hide who your dad was?"

"We don't know about the first, but on the other, it sounds like it was something like that to protect Naruto.

"Hmm, yeah I can see that."

"She was a refugee from Whirlpool Country."

"Whirlpool Country?"

Sakura sighed, Sasuke must not have paid much attention in history class either. "Back during the last Great Ninja War they were an allied country. Mist invaded and destroyed everything before we even got the message calling for help. All we could do to help them was to take in their refugees. Kushina Uzumaki was still a kid when she came to Konoha. She and Minato Namikaze became friends and eventually fell in love and got together. That's all we know, other than Kushina Uzumaki had red hair and a personality a lot like Naruto's."

"Never paid much attention during history classes because it had nothing to do with learning jutsus."

"The same for literature and cultural classes too I assume?" Sakura said with a touch of annoyance.

Sasuke looked sheepish, "Yeah, those too. Math classes as well."

"Math classes?" Even Naruto sounded surprised at that. "You need to know math to know how to save your money."

"Always had plenty of money and resources, didn't need to budget."

Sakura looked at Sasuke sternly. "You know your team mates are partly in charge of your probation, don't you?"

"Yeah" Sasuke was smiling slightly, he liked this bossier Sakura much better than the clinging fangirl she had been.

"Well, I'm giving you a duty. You have the intelligence for it, go and read books on all those things you ignored back in the Academy, including math."

"I can test Sasuke on math, Sakura chan." Naruto grinned, a touch of their childhood rivalry making his tone a bit bragging.

"Oh, we won't test him. He's our friend not our student. We're going to take it on faith he does it." Sakura's tone was mollifying, meaning to cut off any return of the old rivalry between Naruto and Sasuke, but her eyes still looked firm. He better learn it or she was going to be very annoyed. Naruto needed to learn the history and cultural things too, especially being Hokage one day, he really needed to know these things. But she could go slow with Naruto, he had to learn these things in little chunks at a time or he couldn't take it in.

Naruto was a little disappointed, he liked having something over Sasuke, but he got Sakura's real point. She wanted things to stay harmonious between the three of them.

Sasuke was amused, Sakura had taken complete charge of the situation. She was right, he did need to learn these things.

"Okay enough with that, lets go look in those boxes." Sakura grinned, as eager as Naruto to look in them.

They each took a box and started pulling out the contents.

"Hmm, looks like I got the weapons box." Sasuke said after a few minutes. "You got enough kunai here, to supply you for a long time. There's other stuff too, guess you can taking buying weapons off your budget for a while Naruto."

"Yeah." He laughed, seeing the big pile of weapons on the floor.

"What's in your box Naruto?"

"Lots of scrolls and books. Hey, here's some seeds! One of them must have loved plants too!" Naruto grinned, but then looked sad. "Probably too old to grow into anything, they've been sitting in this box for 16 years."

Sakura looked tenderly at Naruto, feeling his sorrow over finding a pleasant surprise then realizing those seeds would never grow. Then her expression brightened, maybe all wasn't lost after all! "Hey Naruto, Yamato taichou might be able to help with those seeds. Let's ask him, okay?"

"Yeah!" Naruto looked happy again, he hoped Yamato taichou could get them to sprout. Naruto knew if their other team leader could do that, he could nurture them to grow. Naruto looked outside, now wasn't the time to germinate plants though, they would be going into winter soon, so this coming spring he'd ask. He put the seeds aside for now. His hands touched a smaller box and he pulled it out curiously. "Oh it's pictures." He smiled but a bit of sadness was in his eyes, this was the only way he'd ever know his parents.

Both Sakura and Sasuke abandoned the other boxes and joined Naruto, curious at what pictures were there.

"Looks like they might be in chronological order." Sakura commented

"Uh huh."

The first picture was of a naked baby boy with blue eyes and wispy blond hair. On the back was written, "Me, six months old" Another hand commented "So cute!" Naruto stared at the words, his parent's handwriting... Sakura leaned her head on Naruto's shoulder and tenderly stroked her hand on his back. He looked away from the picture's words and smiled at her, then put the picture down. The second picture was a few years later, he was standing in front of the Academy with two blond haired adults, grinning from ear to ear.

"Must be your grandparents with him there, Naruto." Sasuke commented.

"You grin just like your dad and grandmother." Sakura murmured

"Heh. I do, don't I." Naruto smiled slightly.

The next picture was his Genin ID card, then his team picture.

"Hey, it's Ero Senin. Oh yeah, that's right, he taught my dad too."

"Jiraiya sama was kind of handsome when he was young." Sakura commented

"But just as perverted." Naruto said with disgust.

"More than likely." Sakura agreed

"Wonder who the other two kids were." Sasuke mused aloud

Naruto turned the picture over but nothing was written on the back. "Have to ask Ero Senin who they were. Wonder if either is still alive."

"Probably not" Sasuke wasn't certain, but the girl kind of looked like an Uchiha. If she was, she definitely was dead...

The fifth picture was of a scowling child with messy short red hair, in clothes that didn't appear to fit quite right, wearing a strange forehead protector. Below the picture was information- Name: Kushina Uzumaki, Age: 11 years, Gender: female, Status: Whirlpool refugee, Genin rank

"Her first Konoha ID."

"Yeah"

The sixth picture was a large group picture. It looked to be at the summer festival, everyone was in Yukata. It was a few years later, Kushina's hair was long enough that she had it in a ponytail. She was standing beside a buxom blonde haired woman they quickly realized was a younger Tsunade. With Tsunade was a handsome man with long straight silver hair, and a tiny girl with short black hair.

"That must be Dan san and Shizune neesan with Tsunade shishou."

"Yeah. You think she'd want a copy of this? Or would it just make her sad?"

"I don't know. I'm going to make a copy for Shizune neesan though, I know she'll want one."

"That's my mom there." Sasuke said and pointed to a very pretty teenage girl with long black hair.

"You look kind of like her." Sakura commented

"Starting to look more like my dad now though."

"He's not in this picture, is he?"

"Nope. That other girl beside her looks like an Uchiha too, though. I think it's the girl from your dad's team, Naruto."

"I don't see the other boy from the team, he must have died."

"It was during the great ninja wars, so chances are, yeah."

"There's Ero Senin and my dad though, and the Third too."

"Back when he still had dark hair."

The third had his robes on but had forgone his hat. His dark hair had visible grey mixed in it, but was still dominantly brown.

"That's Ino's dad there" Sakura pointed to a blond haired teenage boy.

"Yeah, and that's got to be Chouji's dad with him, and Shikamaru's dad sitting on the wall behind them."

"His mom is over here, and that has to be Kiba's mom with her, they must have been friends as kids" Sakura smiled. The two teenage girls were grinning and showing off some sort of prizes they must have won from a booth.

"Hey, Sasuke, you want a copy of this since your mom's in it?"

Sasuke shook his head no. "It's nice seeing this, but it reminds me of what happened."

"Oh." Naruto put the picture down and moved onto the next one. It was Minato in ANBU gear, minus his mask. He was grinning. After that was Minato with his Genin team. They all knew the sad story of that team and moved onto the last picture. It was an ID card of a smiling Kushina with very long hair in the standard Konoha Chunin and Jonin clothes. Her rank was given as Jonin and her age was 23.

"How sad, no pictures of them together as a couple. I was hoping for one." Sakura, said disappointed.

"Me too." Naruto said solemnly. He placed the pictures back in their box. Then he smiled, dismissing his disappointment, he'd got a lot none the less. "So what's in your box, Sakura chan?"

"Clothes and more weapons, plus a few more books. Must have been the last box packed as its more a mix of things."

"Hey! look at the title of this book!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise.

"Naruto. And Jiraiya sama was the author."

"Oh great, I was named for the title of one of Ero Senin's perverted books." Naruto looked disgusted.

"No, wait, Naruto, it doesn't have the content warning symbol on it."

"Probably before they started using it. Was probably Ero Senin's books caused them to adopt that." Naruto still was disgusted. He knew what those books were.

Sakura walked over to the couch and settled down. She opened the book and started to read, she had to know, what kind of book this was. She had a feeling it wasn't the type book Naruto thought it was. From what little she knew of his parent's she really didn't think they would have named their child after a perverted book.

Naruto and Sasuke just shrugged at each other and put the other things back into the boxes. Naruto paused and held the clothing from the box Sakura had gone through. Two jonin outfits, Two cloaks, and some baby clothes, meant for him, that he'd never worn. He sighed and put them back in the box. "Ehh, think I'll go take a walk around Konoha."

"I'll join you." Sasuke said.

"You guys go on." Sakura waved them off. "I'm going to read this book."

They looked at each other and shrugged again.

"Okay, see you later Sakura chan"

"Yep!" She smiled at Naruto. After she finished the first chapter she was going to go out and buy that full sized bed and get the things she wanted most from her parents house. She'd made up her mind she was moving in with Naruto and today had made her even more sure it was the right choice.


	20. Chapter 20

Moving ahead a few years again. The first New Years Day after Naruto becomes Hokage. Sakura and Naruto are both 19.

Rain or Shine  
Chapter 20

"Come on Naruto!" Sakura shouted eagerly as she stepped out into the snowy morning.

"Coming, Sakura chan!" He grinned as he caught up with her and lifted her into his arms, swirling her around. Her red and white cloak caught the wind and made a pretty pattern in the air. Sakura giggled, blushing lightly, and gave him a quick kiss.

He set her back down and they made their way through the snow, walking hand in hand. Konoha rarely had snows, even in midwinter, so this was a rare treat. It's the perfect day for snow Sakura thought, it's a holiday so everyone can enjoy it. The hospital and some of the restaurants were open but that was it, everything else was closed.

Everyone was dressed in holiday clothes, it made a pretty picture with the snow covered landscape. Naruto's cloak matched Sakura's white with a red collar and hem, decorated with holly berries and leaves with a light pink swag design near the hem. Sakura had bought the matching cloaks shortly before their wedding last spring. Being the end of the winter season they had been on sale, and the fact they had been in the correct lengths for both of them, and were of Konoha's colors, decided it for her. Actually, hers was a little long, she had stepped on the hem a couple of times already, but Naruto's fit him perfectly, he looked so handsome in it, Sakura sighed contently.

Wow, no doubt Naruto is the 4th Hokage's son, Ino thought as she walked up to them. That cloak makes him look like a young girls dream of a handsome man. Sakura's one lucky woman, Naruto is getting better looking all the time and he loves her like crazy.

Oh! She felt guilty then. Chouji's not bad looking either! So he's a big guy, he still looks good! I have no complaints waking up beside him every morning, he's a real good lover too, completely considerate to me, a real sweet guy. I'm glad I fell in love with him. Wish he wanted to come along and enjoy the day, though. He wanted to do some project with his dad though and said this was the perfect day for it. She shrugged, maybe she could get him out later with the promise of treating him at their favorite place to eat.

"Hey Sakura!" Ino cheerily shouted hello.

"Hi! Isn't it pretty!" Sakura motioned at the snowy landscape.

"Yeah, and your matching cloaks look cute. You'll set a new fashion trend." Ino grinned.

Sakura giggled, "Us?"

"Yeah, the Hokage and his wife wear matching cloaks... Bet by next week you'll see couples all over Konoha in matching cloaks." Ino said knowingly.

"Yours is very pretty" Sakura decided to change the subject. It was making her self conscious to realize people were looking at them and imitating their style... but hadn't sort of the same thing happened when Tsunade shishou became Hokage? Kunoichi began to wear shoes that resembled her style, some kunoichi grew their hair longer, changed their uniform style to one similar hers...

"Thanks!" Ino whirled around showing off the back of her silky purple and silver cloak, on the back it had the Akimichi clan symbol embroidered in red near the collar.

"So, Naruto you ready for the big unveiling?" Jiraiya walked up, holding hands with Tsunade.

"Yeah, we're heading that way now." Naruto couldn't get over how his wedding to Sakura had been the trigger to get Ero Senin and Baasama together. They ran off together the morning he became Hokage, and when they came back they were living together. Naruto didn't know if they had gotten married on their trip, but they'd been together ever since. It was kind of weird with their age and all, but they acted like kids sometimes, now.

Tsunade grinned, "I bet someday some kid will pull the prank you did, with your face up there."

Naruto laughed, "No doubt. Probably my own kid!"

"Oh! Are you and Sakura starting a family?" Ino asked.

Sakura blushed lightly, "Not yet, we wanted to enjoy ourselves alone for a while longer." Then she blushed brighter when she realized how her words sounded. Everyone else burst into laughter at Sakura's unintentionally suggestive words. Embarrassed, she helplessly joined in the laughter.

"Aww, Sakura chan, sorry for laughing"

"It's okay, Naruto. I walked right into that." She smiled lopsidedly. "It was funny."

"You are the Legendary Rabbit Pair, after all." Tsunade smirked.

"Tsunade!" Jiraiya laughed "I do believe I'm rubbing off on you." He grinned, his double entendre was completely intentional.

Tsunade smacked him lightly on the back, "Old pervert."

"Just the type you like"

Naruto shook his head, and there they go acting like kids...

"Happy New Year, Hokage sama."

Naruto turned around and smiled at Hinata. "Happy New Year Hinata"

She blushed lightly, but managed to keep it under control. It wouldn't be right to keep blushing at Naruto kun when she loved Kiba and they had a baby beside. She still admired Naruto kun though, and anything friendly he said to her still made her feel wonderful. Kiba made her feel that way too, though. It was confusing.

"Kiba..." Hinata paused, it was hard to break herself from calling him Kiba kun, but he got annoyed when she did. Hana san was helping her be more relaxed. She could do pretty good at home now, but in public, especially alone, she fell into old habits. "Kiba and I are meeting up here to go to the ceremony. I know your face will look good up there, Hokage sama."

"Thanks!" Naruto grinned.

"Hey Naruto!" Kiba rode up on Akamaru, his infant son in a carrier on his back.

"Hey Kiba!"

"Akamaru doesn't know what to make of this snow, he's never seen it before in Konoha."

"Woof!" Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Wanna ride, Hinata?" The gleam in Kiba's eyes showed he knew he was crossing the line with his words, and was enjoying this kind of flirting with her.

She blushed bright red, "Kiba kun." her tone was touched with disapproval. You didn't say such things in public, especially in front of the Hokage, even if it was Naruto kun.

Kiba laughed and got off Akamaru, and teasingly swept Hinata into his arms, before setting her onto Akamaru. She squeaked in surprise and embarrassment at Kiba's display of affection in front of Naruto kun, but patted Akamaru on the head once she was settled there. She held out her arms for the baby and Kiba shrugged the carrier off his shoulders and helped her put it on hers. She reached back and stroked the baby's head once the carrier was settled on her shoulders.

It was such a sweet scene Sakura looked at Naruto and lightly squeezed his hand. It made her want to have a baby with Naruto.

"See you at the ceremony, Hokage." Kiba grinned again, then raced off in the direction of the Hokage mountain.

Akamaru bounded behind him, a flushed Hinata holding on tight. Breathlessly she called back, "Bye, Hokage sama!"

They followed in the wake of the couple, but at a more sedate pace.

"He's good for her." Ino observed. "She's less shy now."

Sakura nodded. "His sister is helping her out too."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, Hana san was telling me that she's still kind of scared of Tsume san, but she actually overheard Hinata arguing with Kiba about the baby, last week."

"What about?"

"Something about he wasn't dressing the baby warm enough for this cold weather."

"Well, good to see her standing up for her baby."

"Yeah, they do need to stay warm, they don't have fur like puppies do."

Tsunade smiled at the conversation of the two young women, the next generation would be on it's way before too many more years. She was glad that, baring something unseen, she would see this next generation be born and grow up here in Konoha. "I think we'll be 'grandparents' in a few years, Jiraiya." she whispered.

"Looks that way." He said with a smile. He looked Naruto and thought: Well, Minato, Kushina, looks like your son turned into a fine man. I wish I could have been a better godfather when he was growing up, but I promise I'll try to be a good grandfather when Naruto and Sakura start having a family.

An enormous canvas covered part of the Hokage mountain- on the far side of Tsunade's face and parallel to Minato's. Snow dusted the ropes holding the canvas in place.

Sakura spotted Sasuke and Sai already waiting for them, and waved. Sasuke nodded and smiled and Sai waved back.

"Iruka sensei!" Naruto greeted the man the was his first father figure with an ear to ear grin.

"It's a great day for this Naruto." He smiled warmly.

"Yeah, it is."

"You forgot something in your office." Sasuke handed him the Hokage hat.

"Oh yeah! Thanks!" Naruto clapped the hat on his head. Most days he didn't wear the hat anymore, but for ceremonial things like this it was expected. It had been fun for a couple of days to go around all day with it on and be called "Hokage sama" by almost everyone, including in a teasing way, by Sakura chan. Even Sasuke, while not saying the honorific, had grinned and called him Hokage. By the end of the week he decided the hat was more annoying than fun to wear.

He wondered how the Third could tolerate wearing it day in and out for all those years. Baasama wore it when necessary and that was it. She didn't wear the robe at all. Naruto found it too confining as well, and after wearing it his first day as Hokage, had put it away.

His uniform was a simplified version of wedding clothes for everyday dress, and one that echoed his father's but in black and orange for ceremonial dress. Sakura expressed enthusiastic approval for the ceremonial uniform. Naruto couldn't hold back a slight leer, remembering the first day he had come home in it. She had leapt on him as soon as he walked in the door. They had a lot of fun that night!

Naruto took his cloak off and Sakura laid it over her shoulder. His ceremonial uniform was now visible. Naruto schooled his expression back to a friendly neutral and addressed the crowds below:

"I've been your Hokage for almost a year now. It's been the happiest time of my life. My dreams have been fulfilled- I became Hokage and I married the woman I've loved since childhood. I want to be the best Hokage Konoha has ever had. I want to fulfill not just my hopes, but all the Hokages who came before me, especially my father's, the Third and the Fifth's." Naruto smiled at Tsunade and she nodded and smiled back. Then he stepped back and created three shadow clones of himself, at different ages. The smallest- the 6 year old who first declared he'd be Hokage someday, the 12 old when he first became a Genin, and the last the 16 boy who had just learned Sakura loved him as much as he loved her, and successfully brought Sasuke back to Konoha. The youngest shadow clone took position at the top left rope holding the canvas cover in place, his young Genin clone at the top right, and the boy who would soon become ANBU shadow clone directly across from him on the bottom right rope. He took position at the bottom left. He signaled the shadow clones to cut the other ropes with kunai. When those sides were free he grabbed the canvas and cut the last rope, flourishing the canvas briefly then letting it fall gently on the far side of the platform. A roar of cheers surged through the crowd below. Naruto smiled. The other Hokage had their visages carved with serious expressions, but he was different. He had insisted that his would have a smile. The council fought him on this, claiming it would be disrespectful to the past Hokages, but finally a compromise was reached, his carved face would have a slight closed mouth smile. He hated all those serious expressions on the other faces, especially on the two Hokage he'd known, and on his father's, who he'd learned was a guy who often had a smile on his face.

Sakura heart was touched by those three shadow clones, they brought memories back to her, and the tiniest one made her tear up. That poor little boy, scorned by the adults and mocked as an idiot by all the other kids. She hurried over to Naruto before he dispelled them.

"Wait Naruto. Don't dispel them yet. Have them join us."

"Okay, Sakura chan." Naruto said with a confused expression. He took his cloak back but just threw it over his shoulder. He then motioned the clones back to his side and they all walked back to the path back down to the village that was inside the mountain.

Once they were inside Sakura smiled and said, "Stop here for a minute" She walked up to the 16 year shadow clone, stood on her toes and kissed him firmly on the lips.

Naruto gasped in surprise and the clone popped out of existence. He regained his composure and smiled but said nothing.

Sakura then walked over to the 12 year old shadow clone and said "I realize now, that I loved you even then." She then bent down and kissed him lightly on the lips.

Naruto gasped again and that shadow clone popped out of existence. This time he felt his eyes mist up with joy, "Sakura chan..." he softly uttered.

She smiled back at him. "I did, you know. By the time we took the Chunnin exams I was in love with you. I just didn't know that was what it was I was feeling for you." She then turned to the six year old shadow clone.

He looked up at her. "I wanted to be friends with you, you were the only girl I wanted to ask if you'd play with me."

"I wish you had, I might have played with you, you didn't make fun of my big forehead like the other kids did."

"They were mean. But then you got a friend that protected you from the bullies before I could."

"So you thought I'd reject you then like all the other kids, since I didn't need another protector, Ino was enough."

The clone nodded and looked at her sadly. "Did you even notice me then?"

"I did. I didn't understand why my parents despised you and told me I'd be punished if I played with you."

"So you wouldn't have been allowed to be my friend."

"Not then, but now I am." She sat down so he didn't have to crane his head up to look at her.

It was just a shadow clone, but still, this was a different type of shadow clone, a type that was a specialty of Naruto's, with an individual personality for each clone. It was still one hundred percent Naruto but each clone would act slightly different. Once the clone popped out of existence Naruto would take back in those memories and emotions. The shadow clone grinned and said "I love you Sakura chan."

She smiled tenderly. "I love you too Naruto." She got up on her knees so they'd be eye to eye and gave him a feather light kiss on his cheek. Naruto dispersed the shadow clone and walked up to her, sweeping her up into his arms.

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him passionately. After they broke from the kiss Sakura motioned him to put her back down and said, "Naruto could you create one more, even younger?"

"Younger? Yeah, how young?"

"The age of your first real memory."

"Okay" A second later a boy around 3 years old appeared.

Sakura gently picked the tiny boy up, so he wouldn't disperse just yet. She held the preschooler in her arms and murmured. "When I think of you at this size with no one to love you it makes my heart break." Her eyes begin to tear with sadness about this poor little boy. She softly nuzzled the top of his head. This shadow clone, unlike the others, is quiet, but when Sakura cuddles him, his tiny arms clutched her cloak tightly and his body relaxed into sleep, then disperses.

Naruto's eyes teared up as well when this clone's emotions come back to him. This time he just wrapped his arms around her. Her arms curved around below his. She whispers, "I may not have known you then, but I wish I did. This is my way of giving you that friendship and love you so much needed from anyone."

"Sakura chan, I love you so much, more than anything or anyone."

"I love you too, with all my heart and soul. I have loved you that much since the day you came back so hurt from trying to fulfill your promise of a lifetime to me. I missed you so much while you were off training, and a hoped you were happy."

"I missed you too then. I was so happy to see you." He laughed. "I can't believe now that I missed that you were flirting with me."

She giggled. "Made me angry that you didn't notice I was looking much more like a woman."

"I must have been sleep deprived!" He laughed embarrassedly. "I noticed you were when Yamato taichou took us to that hot spring."

"Really?" She flirted, what clued you in?

"The way you looked in the yukata."

"So that's when you got that thing for seeing me in yukata, huh?"

"Uh huh."

She giggled. "How many have you given me for birthdays and holidays now?"

"Lots. What about you Sakura chan, when did you start really liking seeing me with no shirt on?

She grinned, "When I saw you doing your first element training."

"Then, huh?"

"Yep!" She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him. Then she grinned mischievously, "Lets go home Hokage sama, and celebrate the day." Lust was in her eyes as well as his.

"Sounds like a great idea Sakura chan!"


	21. Chapter 21

Jumping ahead in time- past the "home" time period this time. Sakura and Naruto are around 28, Saori is 6, Haruki is 3, and the baby Ayane is 2 months old.

Rain or Shine  
Chapter 21

Saori had quite a crowd with her on her entrance day at the ninja academy. Her parents and siblings, her "uncle" Sasuke and his boyfriend Sai, "Grandpa" Jiraiya and "Grandma" Tsunade.

"So the cycle starts again" Jiraiya said sagely, with a smile.

Tsunade nodded. "Remember when it was us?"

"Very well. Orochimaru and I were put in the same class, while you were in another at first."

"You remember who my first teacher was?"

"No."

Tsunade laughed, "Your awful memory strikes again. Danzo!"

"Oh yeah! That was before he was told by the Second that perhaps he wasn't suited to teaching children, and removed from the Academy."

Tsunade grinned. "I told my uncle the creepy things I saw him doing to the students, brainwashing tactics."

"Thank goodness his poison will never infect another innocent child." Jiraiya glanced over at Sai, who had been one of those victims, but one who had something deep within him that Danzo hadn't been able to stamp out. That something had responded to Naruto and Sakura's strength of bonds for each other and for their lost team mate Sasuke. The more he understood about those bonds and connected to them, the weaker Danzo's bond became. Eventually it allowed him to act and eliminate Danzo when he attempted yet another betrayal of Konoha from within.

"Mommy and Daddy, I'm going in now." Saori grinned.

Sakura bent down and hugged her older daughter. She smiled enquiringly, "You'll do fine." When she stood back up Naruto handed their infant daughter Ayane to Sakura. He glanced and saw Haruki was still playing on the swing with another child around his age.

Naruto knelt down so his eyes were on level with his older daughter's "Okay, Saori chan." He hugged her tight. It was so overwhelming to do this for his own child. His parents hadn't lived to give him this moment.

Sasuke remembered this day with his father, it was one of the last happy memories he had of his family. He understood his father's gruffness better now. The Uchiha had a devastating curse that he tried to protect his sons from discovering. He believed as long as they didn't know about it, that it couldn't happen. He hadn't counted on Danzo's influence on Itachi in ANBU, and didn't know Madara was alive and in contact with Itachi, nor the secret ties between Danzo and Madara. There'd be no secret traitors plotting in Konoha ever again! Sasuke would make sure of that. He and Sai had "rooted" out every one they'd found. Konoha would be safe for Saori and her generation to grow up in.

Sasuke couldn't be gruff and distant like his father was, not to Naruto and Sakura's children at least. Not to those two boys that he and Sai had become guardians to either. The last victims of Danzo's brainwashing tactics. They had been young enough that contact with other children and gentle deprogramming by Sai and himself had brought them back to something more like normal children. The older boy, Akio, had become a protege of Konohamaru, and Sasuke worried the boy would get some naive girl pregnant because he was so impulsive and enthusiastic in chasing after them. Sasuke wondered if this was what the Sanin Jiraiya had been like at that age. He wondered if the boy might be related in some way to Jiraiya as well, he did have a similar ability with his hair... The younger boy, Nobu, had just recently become a Genin and had appointed himself a sort of big brother/protector of the two older Uzumaki children. He'll be so disappointed that he was off on a mission the day Saori started at the Academy...

Saori waved to her uncle Sasuke and joined the other children entering the Academy doors.

The adults drifted toward the Academy grounds exit. Naruto walked over to where Haruki was happily playing with four other children. Naruto smiled as he could tell his three year old son was the center of attention of his new friends. He recognized Hinata and Kiba's youngest son, Shikamaru and Temari's son, and Neji and Tenten's daughter, and Shino's son. He didn't know Shino's wife that well, Konoha was too noisy for her, but he'd met her a couple of times. He politely reigned down his enthusiastic nature for her benefit when Shino brought her along with his son. The little boy was less introverted than either of his parents, but still looked to be a pretty quiet boy. Hinata and Kiba's youngest boy had more of his father's nature than his mother's, all three of the Inuzuka boys did, must be that clan's nature.

The boy Saori's age, though, the middle boy, was the least noisy and wild. He and Saori had played together since they were Haruki's age, along with Shikamaru and Temari's daughter. Naruto had already suggested the three eventually become a Genin team to Iruka sensei.

Naruto smiled, remembering several times that three muddy, stinky children had snuck into his office, all afraid of the scoldings they would get from their mothers over their hopelessly messed up clothes.

Once they had all been covered head to feet in paint of various colors. Naruto had grinned and immediately looked over at the Hokage mountain. He wasn't surprised to see they had decorated the image of himself, Tsunade baasama, and Saori's grandfather. Not in quite the same way he had done one of his most infamous Academy days stunts though. It appeared to be a kind of ancient battle paint replication. He was impressed. Pretty inventive for three five year olds. He bet he could figure out who did what part of this mischief too. The plan, his daughter's, no doubt about it, the design was Shikamaru's and Temari's daughter's idea- the girl was already reading her parents books, Kiba's son was along for the ride because it looked like fun. He didn't even need to question the trio.

No alarm was aroused by the stunt this time. Naruto quietly passed along that he would handle it. It was hard to put on a stern face for the little hellions, because he found it so entertaining, but he managed.

"You know that's vandalizing village property. You will have to be punished severely."

Even his daughter looked terrified. Naruto knew he'd have to tone it down a bit once he got them out there cleaning up their mess. Much more securely than the three had when they did their mischief... But for now, stern was best.

"Wh-what is going to ha-happen?" The Inuzuka boy was shaking with fear and stuttering, like his mother used to do when she was scared. He was too young yet to have his first clan dog, thankfully, or the poor puppy would have been covered in paint too, more than likely. Hinata would probably punish the boy harder than his father would. She would be humiliated by the public embarrassment of her child doing such a large scale prank. Sakura chan would be the same. Temari san as well, likely.

"You three are going to clean up the mess you made, every drop of paint, and you'll be there cleaning until it is all gone." The same punishment Iruka sensei gave him. The kids were younger though, and the Nara girl would tire out first, having neither parent being hyper active. Saori would have the most energy, so he'd give her the toughest places to clean, the Nara girl the easiest.

After they finished the job, the kids were tired and hungry. He carried the Nara girl over his shoulder. She had fallen asleep from exhaustion. the Inuzuka boy was nearly dead on his feet and even his daughter was dragging her feet following him home. He had Saori help the Nara girl bathe and threw all three kids clothes to soak then wash. Thankfully most the paint had come out of their clothes in the first wash and soak. The kids were close enough in size that both the other two children had been able to borrow Saori's clothes to get home with their wet but mostly clean clothing. The Inuzuka boy had protested about wearing girl's clothes, even though the T-shirt and shorts were indistinguishable from a boy's. Naruto had convinced him by suggesting maybe his mother hadn't found out yet and if he came home in clean clothes and immediately put the wet clothes in the wash his mom might not find out for a while. That did the trick. After he bathed, following the girls, Naruto made instant ramen for the three of them. The kids devoured it. The Inuzuka boy then hurried home trying to sneak in without being caught by either his mother or grandmother. Tsume san laughed off the small scale pranks, but on this one she was as embarrassed as her daughter-in-law. Kiba didn't come to his son's defense on this prank. Saori had told him her friend had been grounded to the Inuzuka compound for two weeks. Sakura chan had been satisfied with a week for Saori, while Shikamaru and Temari hadn't grounded their daughter, but decided she needed some training in Suna with her uncles and cousins for a couple of months. Saori missed her two best friends and felt bad that she had got them in such trouble.

After than Naruto noticed his daughter and her friends decided that they were too grown up for pranks anymore and the trouble they got in was along the line of trying ninja techniques before they had the skill or training. It was time for them to go into the Academy. He spoke to Iruka sensei and warned him about how eager they were to try things they weren't prepared for yet.

"Yeah, it's time for them to start at the Academy. They've all passed their sixth birthday's now, right?"

"Yeah, the Nara girl just had hers."

"Good. If they pass the entrance test they'll get right in. Considering what you've told me, they should pass easily."

Naruto nodded. "I think they'll eventually make a great Genin team as well. They already understand the concept of teamwork and are eager to learn."

"Yeah, sometimes we get kids like that, Team 10 in your class, and Konohamaru and his friends, for example. It's good when they come into the Academy that way, always makes a team really strong on teamwork, even if they don't have a powerhouse two or even three." Iruka grinned.

Naruto grinned back, he knew the later was referring to his old team. Sasuke was already a known powerhouse in the Academy, Naruto was discovered to be one right at graduation, and Sakura had developed into one, eventually taking her easily from Genin to Chunnin. Then Sai had become part of their team. Eventually Sasuke came back and their team soon garnered the label of the Yonin. The legendary team of four with the unbreakable bond of friendship. Not to mention his and Sakura's other "legendary" title of "rabbit pair".

Now the rabbit pair were parents of three great kids. He didn't know what Ayane would become, but whatever it was he and Sakura would nurture it just like they had the other two. Saori had a strength of will, enjoyed pranks and has hints of leadership skills. Haruki is already a boy who makes friends very easily. Maybe he'll be like my dad and become really smart too. Sakura chan is really smart, so he definitely could. Saori's not kind of dumb like me, but she's more interested in doing than reading like me. Haruki seems more patient, like Sakura chan, but calmer than both of us. I think that might come from my dad. Ayane's too young to tell. She seems more bubbly than either Haruki or Saori though- she already laughs a lot. Haruki smiled a lot but didn't laugh any more than Saori did... Ayane is a happy kid I guess. The role I tried to play is her natural way. That's all I can guess right now.


	22. Chapter 22

Jumping ahead past the "home" time period again, this chapter takes place in the last year that "Rain or Shine" will cover. Naruto and Sakura are around 35, Saori is 13, Haruki is 10, and Ayane is 7. Jiriya and Tsunade are around 73

Rain or Shine  
Chapter 22

"A fourth child?" Sakura looked stern but concerned. Hinata's pregnancies had all been problematic. Sakura didn't like the signs she saw this time, even worse than usual, potentially life threatening.

"I- Sorry, Sakura sama." Hinata looked anxious and ashamed.

Sakura's eyes softened as did her tone. "No sama with me, Hinata. Sakura is just fine. We grew up together, were in the same class, and took the Chunnin exams together."

"But-" As always, Hinata looked slightly bewildered at Sakura's disinterest in her clearly higher status "You are Konoha's Head Medical Ninja, one of the Yonin, apprentice to Tsunade sama- her strongest apprentice, surpassing even her achievements, and you are wife of the Hokage."

Sakura shrugged. "Soon to be retired Hokage."

"Naruto sama is retiring? But he always wanted to be Hokage. I thought he'd be Hokage till he was an old man!"

"No, Naruto and I talked about this several years ago. We planned to wait until Saori passed her Chunnin Exams, then Naruto would step down for Konohamaru. Naruto and I want to spend more time in Whirlpool village- where his mother was from."

"Does that mean Whirlpool will become a separate country again?"

"No, they are staying with Fire country. But they are eager to have Naruto and me there part time. Once Ayane becomes Jonin, we'll probably be there full time. We want to spend our old age there. Whirlpool village loves Naruto and there's no memories connected to the time he was despised as a child there. Whirlpool sees Naruto as a completely joyful legacy. He's done a lot to bring the village back. It also gives Fire country a strong village where we can keep a closer watch on Mist. With us there part time, Mist knows we can respond swiftly if they attempt to cause problems. We aren't the only ones of our generation with plans to retire outside of Konoha in Fire Country. The Nara clan helped develop Meadow village, near Fire's western border with River Country."

"So Temari san could have a home closer to Suna?"

"Partly." Sakura smiled. "But it's also good strategy to have a village there, and the land around there was ideal for part of the Nara clan's deer"

"Naruto sama has made Fire Country very strong and peaceful for our children. People of Konoha love him now."

Sakura smiled. "He's fulfilled his dreams, and the dreams of other Hokage before him." Then she looked serious "Hinata, I'm going to have to be firm here. Absolutely no more children after this one. I'm going to have to up your dosage on the medication, see you every week, not just every month, and I want to have as little nonprenatal related exertion as possible. You make that clear to Kiba and the boys too."

Hinata nodded and ducked her head. "Can you tell-" Hinata hesitated to say it, feeling ashamed to admit why she wanted to have another baby.

"What?" Sakura kept her voice calm, seeing how difficult whatever it was for Hinata to say. She had a feeling whatever it was lay at the crux of the reason behind this pregnancy.

"Is it, could it be this time, a girl?" Hinata had whispered this and her face flushed in shame with the admission of why she had wanted to try one more time.

"Oh." Sakura gently hugged Hinata. "So that's why. It's pretty early, yet, just two months along, but let me try something"

Hinata nodded. "It was too early for me to try and see, but I thought you might know how."

Sakura smiled, "You'll be having a daughter."

Hinata sighed with relief and smiled. "I wonder if she might inherit the Byakugen, none of the boys did."

"I don't know, that is definitely too early to tell." Sakura worried, is this a sense of failure that she hasn't passed along her clan traits while her sister and cousin did with both their children?

Hinata nodded. "You gave me the news I was hoping for."

"Remember what I said about exertions though, stress as well. I want you to eat especially healthy too, and more than usual, your mineral count is too low." Sakura smiled. "Now go and tell Kiba your good news." She walked with Hinata toward the hospital entrance. It was time for the academy to let out for the day; she'd walk there and meet up with Ayane and Haruki. It was report card day.

"Mama, look, look!" Ayane burst into the hallway shouting excitedly and waving her report card.

Sakura smiled and stopped walking, letting her excited daughter come to her. Ayane was different than her older sister, though. Saori was still turning these moments into a pell-mell run ending in a crashing bear hug at Ayane's age. Ayane gradually slowed herself down and stopped right in front of her mother. Sakura squatted down to eye level with her daughter and they hugged warmly. Then Ayane grinned and offered her mother the report card again.

"Wow all A's again, very good Ayane chan."

Ayane did a little bounce of joy, then reached into her small backpack "Iruka sensei said to give you this."

Sakura took the sealed letter to read later.

Hinata had watched the scene wistfully. She would love for her daughter to be like that. She smiled at Ayane.

Ayane smiled back and waved. "Hi Hinata obasan! Saori neesan just came back home, Jiro san was heading to your house-" Ayane giggled "He was all muddy and smelled bad. Neesan said they got sent to a swamp and Jiro san and Ken chan chased somebody straight into it."

"Are they all okay?" Hinata looked worried, Jiro wasn't quite 13, still a Genin and his puppy Ken, was still pretty young too.

Ayane nodded. "Neesan is going with Tenten sensei to make the report to Daddy. Shikami san met up with Haruki niisan and they went somewhere. Jiro san said he was going home."

Sakura sighed. Just ten years old and Haruki already has a girlfriend and his older sister's best friend at that. For her part, Shikami chan seems to think of Haruki as more of a friend, right now- what with the three years between them, and Haruki still an Academy student. But Haruki already is interested in girls and has become quite popular with them. He is a quite charmer. Sakura smiled ruefully, at how he had escaped punishments for misdeeds by pouring on that charm with her. Thank goodness he didn't become spoiled because of this. I need to be more stern with him though. Tsunade shishou says he's like Minato san all over again. I just hope we've trained him well enough to be responsible once he gets a bit older and the dating gets serious. I guess Naruto and I better talk with him now though, before it does become more than childish flirtations.

"Sakura sam- san, I will see you next week for my check up." Hinata lightly bowed her head and left.

Sakura sighed; she wished Hinata wouldn't feel inferior in status to her. They grew up together and she was still a Hyuuga anyway, even if her last name was Inuzuka. The Hyuuga clan had the highest status of all the clans in Konoha, even higher than whatever family the current Hokage's was. Several clans did, in fact. Even if you were the child of an earlier Hokage that didn't change.

What did change though, Sakura smiled, was Naruto made those old status markers less important, and did so with the approval of the Hyuuga clan head. With the Hyuuga clan agreeing so readily, several of the other elite clans followed suit. Konoha was a different and better place for the children now growing up in the village.

"Mama, I'm hungry. And I bet daddy will take Saori neesan to Ichiraku-"

"Alright, we'll go there too, but just one bowl, I have supper already planned out- it's mama's turn to make it tonight."

Ayane nodded, then raced down the hallway toward the entrance. Sakura just shook her head and sedately followed her youngest child- all three kids as ramen headed as their father. She had no doubt that's where Haruki ended up with Shikami chan.

Shikamaru san and Temari san complained of how Saori and Haruki "corrupted" their kids, their son, Shikaru, was a good friend of Haruki and likely was also at Ichiraku right now. Shikamaru san and Temari san weren't much on ramen, but Saori and Haruki had got both Nara kids to like it.

Sakura smiled, Naruto had done the same with her. It wasn't a favorite food, but if Naruto suggested it, she had been fine with it. It was when she finally realized she was in love with Naruto and they had gone yet again to Ichiraku, that she realized that ramen had become a food she could eat often, because it meant she would be spending time with Naruto when he was happiest and most content. Realizing that lead to it even playing a part in their intimate relationship. Sakura giggled and blushed lightly recalling the naked homemade ramen flirtation. It was shortly after she moved into his apartment, during the ANBU training time. She bet Naruto still remembered that flirtation! It was quite successful! It was the first time she truly sexual seduced him. He was already becoming quite good at seducing her and she wanted to return the favor. She had been stumped in what method to use until they stopped by Ichiraku one day coming home from training. She was feeling turned on just seeing him after a long day of training apart. She started flirting with him while he was eating the ramen and this time he couldn't keep up with the flirting and was clearly willingly letting her take the lead. Once they got back to the apartment though, he turned on his seduction skills to the max and ended up being the winner again. Not that she minded, she loved being willingly seduced, but she wanted to do the same for him. It had been completely successful and he loved it. They had started to trade off then, although he still usually won the game they loved to play the most. Since they became parents to three kids though, they snatched the fun moments where they could, and it tended to be much more balanced on who seduced and who got seduced.

"Come on mama! You walk too slow! Daddy is already here and so is Saori neesan and Haruki niisan!" Ayane shouted from the restaurant.

Sakura gave Naruto a quick kiss before she sat down next to him.

"Sakura chan." Naruto's eyes and voice were seductive.

"Naruto." She made her voice breathy and blew lightly in his ear.

Shikami giggled and whispered to Saori "I think your parents are going to make out."

Saori shook her head no. "Not here. Mama doesn't like people staring at her."

"My mom and dad never do that in from of us kids." Shikaru smirked. He'd heard rumors that he finally was starting to understand about the Sixth Hokage and his wife. Dad complained about how embarrassing it was to have a Hokage that flirted so obviously with his wife in public. You had to be more subtle and intelligent about that sort of thing. Mom had burst out laughing- "The current Hokage has no abilities to be subtle or intelligent." Dad had sighed and said "That's true. He's a good guy, and I have to admit our best Hokage but he'll never be smart or subtle."

Saori was proven right, after the greeting flirtation, Sakura and Naruto spoke seriously.

"Ayane's report card."

"Wow, Sakura chan, she has your mind, all A's. Gamakichi said he could tell she was lots smarter than me when she did the toad summoning last year."

Sakura smiled and nodded. Then she pulled out the envelope Ayane had handed her.

"Who's that from?"

"Iruka sensei" Sakura opened it and she and Naruto read it together.

"Another impressive semester from Ayane. She is very bright, but not in the least arrogant about it. She is happy and friendly the majority of the time. When I see a pensive look on her face it worries me and her many friends as well. Like Haruki, she is popular amongst her classmates, but unlike Saori or Haruki she has no interest in being any kind of leader. She quietly shines in her academic work- much like you did, Sakura. She shows the same high chakra control abilities you did as well. I think there's a strong case for sending her to medical ninja training as soon as she graduates the academy, and if not then, as soon as she reaches Chunnin level. I think it's not too early to see if she shows the inclination toward your path, Sakura. Tsunade sama began her training of Shizune san along that path when she was even younger than Ayane is now. You might speak with Tsunade sama and Shizune san about what that early training consisted of, as it wasn't done at the academy, so I cannot provide course work."

"Ayane chan is going to be a medical ninja like you!" Naruto beamed with pride that finally one of their kids had their mother's sharp mind and a strong hint of her skills. Haruki was bright, but his grades weren't quite as high as Ayane's. Saori's had been mostly average, except for taijutsu, were she had consistently been the top of her class. Naruto was just relieved Saori was able to study and get better grades than he had. Sakura hadn't pushed Saori beyond what she was capable of, but encouraged her to shine where her skills were high.

"Maybe. If Ayane has the interest and all the skills needed." Her words and tone were neutral, but inside she was overjoyed. Sakura had hoped one of their children would inherit her skills and show an interest in also being a medical ninja. When Ayane showed the ability to summon frogs and win the contract last year, Sakura had resigned herself to waiting for maybe a future grandchild to train in medical ninjutsu. But now maybe she wouldn't have to.

Actually, she realized Ayane had expressed some curiosity about medical ninjutsu already. She had already learned how to treat the simple cuts and bruises children often got in their play. Sakura had dismissed it as a passing curiosity, both Saori and Haruki had learned this as well at Ayane's age, but then had gone onto other things. Ayane, though, really liked to come to the hospital and help out. Sakura had just seen that as part of Ayane's kindhearted nature. At her young age she couldn't do much, but Sakura would send her into rooms with patients that would enjoy talking to a cheerful child. Like Kameyo san.

Kameyo san was in her nineties and had no living family left. Her children had died in the Kyubi attack and her grandchildren on various missions over the years. The last one had died protecting Konoha during the Sound attack when the Third died. Despite losing her children to the Kyubi attack, Kameyo san harbored no hatred toward Naruto. She had been one of the few that had vocally supported the Third's reading of the Fourth's proclamation about Naruto. "That baby saved Konoha!" she had shouted many times. Kameyo san had been confident that the Fourth's last words were right, that baby would grow up and be a hero all over again to Konoha. Her only regret was that she hadn't approached Naruto as a child and done kind things for him. Her grandchildren were angry enough at her for supporting the "Kyubi container" by her words, if she had done actions as well, she feared they would reject her. The last surviving one had lived long enough to see his grandmother's wisdom, and said just a few days before he died, "Well I don't know if he's a hero, but I'll grant you, he's just a kid, not a monster's container." If only he had lived to see what a hero our Sixth Hokage is... Kameyo sighed, on the day she told Sakura her first tale.

Naruto would come by and talk to Kameyo san often as well. She was the only elderly villager that would speak warmly to Naruto. He asked her about the early years of Konoha when she had been a child. He also asked her about what it had been like to be a young ninja under the First and Second Hokage. Sakura would sit in and listen to Kameyo san's stories, and wrote many of them down. She took the first notebook to Tsunade shishou to read, since it was about her grandfather and Konoha before she was born.

Kameyo san soon had two other visitors- Tsunade shishou and Jiraiya sama. Sakura had been surprised when Jiraiya sama had walked in as well that first time. He laughed at her expression. "What, you didn't forget that book I wrote that your husband got named for did you?"

Sakura flushed with embarrassment.

"I love history, Sakura. Heroic tales, especially. Kameyo san, here, tells them the way I wish I could."

Kameyo san denied her ability modestly, but she smiled all the same, and her tale this time had been of a bit later time, one of the young Sanin. She had still been an active ninja at the time, and the Sanin had just recently garnered their name. She first apologized gently to the two living Sanin and said perhaps it was better than she hadn't much to say on Orochimaru, considering what happened eventually.

It had been a mission where Kameyo san's team had been a backup team to the Sanin. The mission had gone smoothly, so the backup team hadn't even met up with the Sanin until the return trip to Konoha. She had been thoroughly amused to watch Tsunade hime and Jiraiya san in a heated argument about who had won a bet. She had noted the obvious undercurrent of attraction between the two young ninja and wondered if a romance was in the making. Then Kameyo san laughed at them and said "Well, it was, but it took over 30 years to happen!"

Tsunade and Jiraiya looked at each other ruefully, while Naruto and Sakura both laughed.


	23. Chapter 23

For everyone who thought I'd forgotten Rock Lee- I hadn't. I planned this all along, and now you get to find out. ;) Back in the "home" time period of the story, Naruto and Sakura are 25, Saori is about 3 1/2, and Haruki is about 7 months old. Rock Lee is 26 and Hanabi is 20.

Rain or Shine  
Chapter 23

"She chose Lee?" Sakura eyes were wide with surprise.

Hinata nodded. "My sister said, he was kind and loyal and became completely devoted to her, as soon she asked him to marry her."

"Lee can be that way. Any woman that would have seriously asked him, he would have been the same way." Tenten stated. "I've known him since we in the Academy together, and that's just his way."

Neiji sighed. "Bad enough that we have the bond of being on a team with him, but now related by marriage too."

"Neiji!"

"It's okay Tenten. I won't oppose it. She's a grown woman. They seem happy enough, and maybe my little cousin can gradually wear off the weirdness he got from Guy sensei."

Everyone sighed then, even Hinata. Lee was a good hearted man, but could be weird and over the top at times, most of that due to Guy sensei's influence. Guy sensei cared deeply for people but he was just kind of nuts, Lee had been very impressible and had copied his ways a great deal.

"The reason why we came to you, Sakura, is that Lee would really like Naruto to be the person that performs the marriage ceremony."

"He chose Naruto over Guy sensei?"

"Yeah, surprised us all. But Lee sees Naruto as much more the expert in love," Tenten paused embarrassed to say such a thing out loud, even though she was just basically repeating Lee's words. This being, of course a reference to Naruto and Sakura's old nickname of Legendary Rabbit Pair. Tenten had heard rumors that the couple was still quite lively, even with two kids now. "plus their longstanding friendship, and Hanabi was quite pleased with the choice of being married by the Hokage."

Sakura blushed lightly at the oblique reference to Legendary Rabbit Pair. "Why didn't Lee ask Naruto directly?"

"He feels it is too presumptuous to ask the Hokage outright if he'll perform a marriage. He wanted to do it in the formal way, submitting a written request..."

Sakura sighed, "Those type things take forever to get through the channels. You were wise to bring the request to me. I know Naruto will say yes when I ask him tonight. When would they like the marriage to take place?" Sakura saw why Hanabi hadn't come or asked her directly alone, she didn't want to hurt Lee's feelings. That boded well for the marriage if she knew him that well and cared that much already.

"Hanabi suggested next month, and Lee said he'd marry her whenever she wants."

"Okay, I'm sure Naruto can talk with them about scheduling a time. I'll suggest Naruto wait about a day after Lee submits the written request. If you would send me an alert I'll make sure I pick up the request so we don't have the council annoying us about Naruto doing personal favors for his friends."

Collective looks of annoyance crossed their faces, even Hinata looked a bit pained. Everyone who knew Naruto and Sakura as friends knew what the council was like.

Sakura's mind moved onto a related matter. "There's also the issue of Lee's reaction to alcohol to consider in your preparations. I've come up with something that might work as an antidote though. The problem was Lee's body instantly reacts to alcohol as a poison- which it is for anyone, in a high enough dose. I've come up with a possible antidote. I'll give it to him the day after he submits the request. I'll give to him with the approval note from Naruto and request to meet with him to schedule a time for the wedding that works out for everyone. You can have Lee test it out somewhere he can't cause property damage. It should work, but if it doesn't tell me and I'll work on it a bit more."

"Lee san will be so relieved if it does." Hinata smiled.

Sakura smiled. "It's not the sort of thing he'll be taking daily, but whenever he goes to a party where alcohol is served he can take it about a half hour before and it should be good for about 6 hours, as long as he drinks in moderation."

After they left Sakura was amused by the coincidence. She had just decided last week to see if she could come up with an antidote for Lee. She could counteract almost any poison as soon as she analyzed it, and realizing Lee had been all along reacting to alcohol as a poison; she decided to try to fix that problem so he could drink socially at a party if he wished. She had come up with a possible antidote yesterday and was going to speak to him today.

Three days later he was in her office.

"Sakura san, you are so kind! Doing this for me so Hanabi and I can do the ceremonial marriage drinks together!"

"I hope so. Run a test on it tomorrow, okay? Go out to one of the old training areas, and make sure at least one person is with you. Just in case it doesn't work, or you have a bad reaction and need medical treatment."

"I will ask Guy sensei! Thank you so much Sakura san! And when it proves to be successful perhaps you and the Hokage can join Hanabi and I for a celebration dinner?" Lee asked with eager hopefulness.

Sakura smiled gently, "We'd like that." It would help with the scheduling meeting too, she thought. We'll be away from any council eyes that might complain. The scheduling could be done at the dinner. Perfect.

She walked out of the hospital a few minutes after Lee left. He had been her last appointment of the day. Now she was off to collect Haruki and Saori from Tsunade shishou and Jiraiya sama.

Tsunade shishou was loving being grandmother to the kids. Jiraiya sama always complained a bit but lately he seemed to not be so bothered by it. Sakura didn't know if it was because Saori was now old enough that she begged him for stories about her father and about himself as a boy every time she visited but she bet that was a big part of it. Tsunade shishou made sure the stories stayed "clean", but Jiraiya sama was pretty good about not crossing the line when he told stories to young children. That's why Sakura was fine with it.

Jiraiya sama's overdramatic storytelling made older children and adults roll their eyes, but was perfect for younger children like Saori. Tsunade shishou had witnessed Jiraiya sama doing that silly lion dance for Saori while she squealed with joy. Saori had now started making it known that she wanted to be Hokage too, just like her daddy. That seemed to really make Jiraiya smile every time she said it around him. Tsunade shishou was pleased as well. Naruto would grin and tell her she'd have to work real hard and be the best Hokage ever.

Sakura walked in to see Saori asleep on the couch next to Jiraiya sama who was snoring away himself. Tsunade shishou pointed toward the spare bedroom and they quietly walked past the couch. Haruki was asleep in the crib with a smile on his face.

"It's amazing, he smiles almost all the time. They only times he cries is when he's hungry or his diaper needs changing. He's such a pretty infant too." Tsunade picked Haruki up and handed him to Sakura. Haruki woke up briefly and his smile widened at seeing his mother was holding him, then he settled back to sleep in her arms.

Saori had woken up by this time, and looked jealous of the attention her baby brother was getting. She pouted and said "I'm going to be Hokage one day."

Jiraiya, who had been awakened by Saori's bored and jealous bouncing on the couch before she uttered her statement, smiled knowingly. "And what kind of Hokage are you going to be?"

"Just like my daddy!"

"Well, your daddy thinks you'll be a better one than he is, if you work hard and try your best."

Saori grinned from ear to ear at the praise. "I'll be the best Hokage ever!" She practically bounced around the room with glee.

Sakura was relieved, Jiraiya sama had diverted Saori's attention by centered his attention on her and praising her, she couldn't have diffused that any better. He was surprisingly understanding of young children. Tsunade shishou was better with babies though, she praised Saori just as much as a baby, and liked giving them the attention they needed. Hyperactive, enthusiastic preschoolers weren't her forte. She was good with adolescent girls though, Sakura remembered. She took me from a girl still struggling with low self-esteem and made me take pride in becoming stronger and in my intelligence. She inspired all the young women of my generation, even Temari san talks about how Tsunade shishou made her feel welcome in Konoha by saying Suna couldn't have found a better ambassador.

Sakura looked at her daughter, amused at how happy she was now. It was so like Naruto. "Saori chan, lets go meet daddy now."

"Okay Mommy!" Saori was already running out the front door.

"Saori, come back and tell Jiraiya sama and Tsunade shishou goodbye"

"Okay." Saori looked up solemnly at Tsunade and said "I want to be Hokage like you too, baasama."

Tsunade smiled and hugged Saori and kissed her on her forehead. "You'll be a good one, I'm sure."

Saori hugged her back as tightly as her little arms could manage. Then she stepped back with the grin so like her father's on her face.

Tsunade thought, I want to live to see this one become Hokage too.

"Jiisama?"

"What?" Jiraiya grinned back at Saori. Then he swooped her up above his head so her feet touched the ceiling. Saori giggled and pretended to be using her chakra to walk on it. It would be years yet before she could do that, but besides being play it got her used to the feeling. Then he set her back down on the ground.

Saori took her mother's hand and turned back as they stopped on the porch. "Bye-bye. I'll be back soon!"

Sakura was relieved to see Lee walk into her office the next afternoon with Hanabi. "Thank you so much Sakura san! Your antidote worked. I had no reaction to one shot of sake, and just a normal reaction to two. I stopped at two because I did not want to become drunk in the normal fashion."

"Good. So are we still going to meet at a restaurant tonight for your celebration?"

"Yes. Hanabi chan made the reservations."

"We would be very honored if you and the Hokage would be there." Hanabi said formally.

"We will, which restaurant and what time?"

"The Bough at 7 PM. We made it that early so the children could be there as well."

Sakura was impressed. The Bough was one of the most expensive restaurants in Konoha. She and Naruto had celebrated their first anniversary there, but that was the only special occasion they had celebrated there. They had only ate there a few times, as Naruto preferred less elite eating establishments, really she did as well. One had to dress up in fine clothes to go there. Sakura wasn't sure if Saori was old enough yet to understand how to act there. But by 7 PM she had usually calmed down, but wasn't cranky yet, so it might work out okay. Haruki was so small and comfortable with lots of attention from strangers that she didn't think he'd be a problem. "Okay. I'll tell Naruto and we'll get dressed and come."

"Thank you Sakura san, so much!" Lee grinned and did the thumbs up gesture.

Sakura smiled and nodded at Hanabi, who seemed comfortable with the enthusiasm of her husband to be.

"See you then"

Naruto and Sakura managed to get Saori into a pretty light yellow dress and with her riding on her daddy's shoulders, kept the dress neat looking. Naruto wore his most formal Hokage clothing and Sakura wore a reddish orange kimono with a cherry blossom design. Haruki was in golden yellow robe, and asleep in Sakura's arms when they arrived.

"This way Hokage sama" The waiter lead them to the private party room.

Wow, Sakura thought, they really did go all out, that's extremely expensive, and only elite families like the Hyuuga's could afford to reserve that room so close to time.

They walked in to see many of their friends also at the party.

"Are we the last ones to arrive?" Sakura asked.

"Yep." Kiba grinned at them leeringly.

Sakura sighed, the Legendary Rabbit Pair tag strikes again. In reality it had been the struggle to get Saori in the fancy dress that delayed them. She had never worn uncomfortable formal clothing before and resisted until Naruto charmed and bribed her with a promise of a new toy tomorrow if she acted good tonight and wore the dress.

"You aren't late, Hokage sama" Hinata said softly.

Sakura glanced at the clock in relief- 6:55. They had made it just in time.

The dinner went quite well, partly thanks to Tsunade convincing Jiraiya to come along as a guest. Jiraiya kept the restless children occupied with his storytelling. After the meal and a few stories the infants, toddlers and preschool children were all asleep on the padded benches at the back of the room. Due to the Hyuuga clan hosting the celebration, the atmosphere with the adults was quiet and formal. The adults that disliked such an atmosphere felt restless but were mature enough to endure quietly.

"So when would you like to have the wedding?" Naruto smiled at Lee and Hanabi.

"Hanabi chan would like to have it a month from now."

"Good, I think that's far enough off I can sneak an evening ceremony in without complaints from the council. I'll make sure we have a full meeting of the council two days before, let them go on and on until they fall asleep." Naruto grinned.

"You are a wise Hokage, Naruto san." Lee grinned back and gave a thumbs up gesture.

A cunning one, for sure, Tsunade smirked. The kid might just pull it off, playing the stubborn idiots on the council that way. She do her best to make sure things went Naruto's way too. It was good to see Lee finally getting someone in his life that should lessen the influence of Guy. Guy cared deeply for his students, but his influence on Lee had been excessive and weird, that needed to be tempered a bit. It would be good for Hanabi as well, she had too much of the Hyuuga formality in her ways. A bit of cross influence would be good for both of them. So it wasn't the sort of deep love she had developed for Jiraiya, or Naruto and Sakura's deep and passionate love for each other, or the deep but teasing bond Shikamaru and Temari had, or even the longstanding friendship love Tenten and Neiji, Kiba and Hinata, and Ino and Choji had. There was a bond of caring already between Lee and Hanabi and certainly Lee was enthusiastic about it. It looked to be a solid relationship they both were content with.


	24. Chapter 24

Going back to the second week after Naruto becomes Hokage. Naruto and Sakura are going on 19 years old.

Rain or Shine  
Chapter 24

Ugh, it's so dusty in here. Sakura thought. How long has it been since someone was back in these part of the records? Probably not since Tsunade shishou looked through them when she first became Hokage. Sakura mused, with a faint smile. Sakura couldn't contain her curiosity, her status allowed her now see all but the current most confidential information, and Naruto told her that anyway as she was his closest and most trusted advisor.

Naruto wasn't terribly interested in these old files, unless she found something interesting by or about his parents. That's what she was searching for. She'd spent hours over the past week looking through the old records. She was curious about the early history of Konoha too, but that could wait. For now her self appointed mission was finding any records by or about Naruto's parents.

"I'm going to have to pay you D ranked mission pay for this, Sakura chan" Naruto laughed, as he "rescued" his wife from the old records room, to head back to their quarters for the night.

"What do you mean, D ranked. I say C ranked- severe health hazards." She grinned ruefully as she brushed at the dust that coated her top.

Naruto smiled back and took her hand. "So what did you find today?"

"Look." She handed him a picture of his mother and father together. Kushina was quite obviously pregnant, pretty near term, Sakura guessed.

"Sakura chan! Where did you find this?" Naruto was so overjoyed tears filled his eyes. He never thought he'd see a picture like this, he thought it could only be a precious dream he kept in his heart.

"In the Third's things. He and Jiraiya sama must have split up your parents things. Or maybe the Third convinced them to have this picture taken, as long as he kept it in his confidential files."

Sakura smiled tenderly as Naruto stared at the picture in awe all the way back to the Hokage's private quarters. As soon as they were inside he laid the picture on the table and went looking for something.

"What are you looking for?"

"Picture frame."

"Ah, in the closet behind you, third shelf, left box, should be right on top."

"Thanks Sakura chan! You're amazing!"

Organized was more like it. Naruto was in a haphazard way, but she knew especially now, with him being Hokage, she'd have to keep things better organized than he did.

In a few minutes the picture was on a bookshelf in their bedroom. Tsunade shishou had small dilapidated bookcase one in the corner- that had been removed. Sakura had a floor to ceiling bookcase installed and already it was halfway filled with books and scrolls.

Sakura threw her dusty clothes in the dirty clothes basket, and headed to the shower.

"Want some company, Sakura chan?" Naruto flirted.

"Maybe." Sakura flirted back.

After the long and fun shower together, Sakura put on her sleeping yukata, but left off the belt, just tying the short cords sewn to the robe. The nights were beginning to warm up so Naruto just put on pajama pants. Sakura chan cuddling him would keep his upper body warm enough under the covers.

The next morning Sakura wasn't surprised to wake up and see Naruto staring at the picture again, with a slight smile.

"It's a wonderful picture, and you're in it too." Sakura pointed to Kushina's very large belly.

"Yeah. A family picture." Naruto's smile deepened. "I can't wait to show Ero Senin, Baasama, Kakashi sensei, and Sasuke."

"Iruka sensei too."

"Yeah! I bet he's up already, getting ready to teach the kids. I'll go show it to him now!" Naruto nearly left the quarters still dressed just in his pajama pants.

Sakura grabbed him and laughed. "Get dressed first, baka."

Naruto rubbed his head with embarrassment and grinned. "Oh yeah, that." He walked to the closet to pull out the standard ninja top, pants and vest for this visit. Think I'll leave off the Hokage hat. Naruto was already finding the hat more trouble that it was worth, plus with it on, even his friends and former teachers were only calling him Hokage or Hokage sama. He missed being called by his name. He noticed when he didn't wear the hat his friends and teachers would tend to forget and just call him by his name. It was fun for a few days to be called Hokage by everyone, but that had worn off now.

"I'll go with you. I'll go leave a message that you'll be in this afternoon, that you have other duties in Konoha this morning. I don't need to be in until afternoon, unless there's an emergency."

"I hope there's not."

"Me too. Now get dressed while I go leave the note." Sakura was already dressed in casual clothes, and gave Naruto a light kiss, that he grabbed her and deepened. "Later." She laughed and pulled away gently.

Naruto playfully pouted, but then grinned and let her go.

"Wow, that's wonderful Naruto." Iruka smiled gently, then looked embarrassed "I'm sorry, Hokage sama."

"Iruka sensei, I want you to just keep calling me Naruto, like always." Naruto said as he carefully placed the framed photo back in his small backpack.

"But, don't you want to be called Hokage by everyone?"

"I used to think so. Most people here don't think of me badly anymore, just because I'm a Jinchuuriki. I don't need to hear it so much, especially from people who have cared about me for years."

"Thanks, Naruto. You want to celebrate at Ichiraku's today? Unless you and Sakura have other plans?" Iruka backtracked when he remembered Naruto and Sakura were newlyweds. They'd want lots of time alone together, especially with their known reputation for being a very passionate couple.

"We were going to celebrate at Ichiraku ourselves, you're welcome to come along."

Iruka nodded and smiled." I have to thank Sakura again, for being so willing to step in and teach my class while we talked today."

"She likes kids a lot, she's probably having a blast."

Iruka nodded, he'd noted her great demeanor with younger children even in the later years of her Academy days. He knew Kakashi had remarked on it as well in his after mission briefings with the Third." If she wasn't going to have such a busy schedule being the Head Medic Nin, I'd beg her to teach here."

Naruto laughed. "Don't ask or we may never see each other. She'd do it in a heartbeat if you asked."

"I won't. You'll both make great parents, Naruto. I saw how well you did with your Genin teams, and all six of them love both of you like family."

"Thanks" Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment at such high praise from the sensei he considered his best father figure.

Iruka's face betrayed his rarely shown mischievous side as he asked, "So have you and Sakura started on that family yet?"

"Sensei!" Naruto was shocked "That's personal!" Naruto blushed.

"Sorry Naruto." Iruka apologized, but he looked amused, he'd finally surprised Naruto with a bit of good natured teasing.

Maybe it was because of his upcoming wedding to Hana Inuzuka but he didn't want to hide private things as much now, and felt comfortable teasing about them when it struck him, especially with Naruto. Hana had him suddenly interested in a lot of things, and they certainly weren't waiting to start a family. Hana had already made it clear from the wedding night onward they were trying for kids. He had blushed the first time she said it, but now... well maybe he understood Naruto and Sakura's passionate natures a little.

Naruto smiled faintly. "You surprised me, sensei. Sakura chan and I want to wait a while before we start a family. We're both still pretty young, and we just started working two of the most important jobs in Konoha."

"That's quite wise, Naruto."

"Heh, it's what Sakura chan said to Tsunade baasama, yesterday."

"So she's already said something?"

"Yep." Naruto nodded.

"Hana and I aren't as young, we've decided we want kids as soon as possible."

"You'll be a great dad, Iruka sensei. I thought of you as my dad when I was growing up."

"Thank you Naruto." Iruka was deeply touched by those simple words. No one had said that to him before, and he had often felt like he was many of his students' father. With the first few classes, like Hana's, it was more like a big brother, but as the age difference grew it started to feel more like he was a father to these kids. Naruto's class was the first of those. He tried to reach out to all the fatherless kids especially, but Naruto was the only one that had responded.

Naruto and Iruka walked toward the Academy training grounds where Sakura was leading the class in team training exercises. Iruka smiled with approval at the 4 teams, she'd assessed the kids well and gave them balanced teams. Naruto and Iruka watched the kids complete the exercise and listened to Sakura give them advice on what they needed to improve.

Once she finished Iruka called out "Lunch time, kids! Be back here in an hour!"

The kids shouted with glee and raced in all directions.

"Thank you again, Sakura."

"Any time, Iruka sensei."

Iruka grinned at Naruto but followed his Hokage's words and said nothing else, merely nodded with a smile to Sakura.

"Iruka sensei is going to join us for lunch, Sakura chan, is that okay?"

"Sure! I want to talk to him about one of the students."

"What's wrong."

Sakura sighed. "Maya chan, her parents are dead, right?"

Iruka nodded sadly.

"She has a significant health issue. I don't know that she'll even be able to graduate with it, and even if she does, I don't think she would survive even a C level mission."

Iruka looked shocked. "That serious? I thought perhaps she was like Hinata. A risk, but low."

"It's a similar heart defect, but Maya chan's is far worse."

"But she passed the physical Tsunade sama started giving all new Academy students."

"That was nearly six years ago. This defect can either become lesser or greater as the person grows. Hinata's became lesser, Maya's became greater."

"What can she do with her life then?"

Sakura's look was gentle. "She likes to research things. let her graduate with the class if she passes, and send her to me. She can train as a medical research aide. I can always use help with that, and even if she's squeamish around blood she won't have to deal with that."

"Actually, I don't think she is squeamish about it. She does well on the medical aid sections every year. She is good at retention of knowledge as well as liking research."

"That's like you, Sakura chan!"

Sakura nodded.

"Well, I was wondering what I was going to do if they all passed this year, as we have 13 students in that class."

Naruto smiled. "I hope they all pass, including Maya."

Fifteen minutes later, Naruto and Iruka had finished a couple of bowls of ramen and Sakura was finishing up her first.

Iruka turned to Naruto, "So Hokage sama", Iruka grinned "what is this first proclamation I'm hearing rumors about?"

Naruto grimaced. "Should have been announced end of last week, but the council had me jump through a few more hoops before they approved it."

"And?"

Naruto grinned. "It's confidential until noon tomorrow."

"I'm your favorite sensei though."

Sakura almost giggled at the faint tinge of a whine in Iruka sensei's voice. He really wanted to know bad. Sakura gently nudged Naruto, and whispered in his ear, "A hint isn't going to hurt, and it's not like it's anything bad."

"Okay, Sakura chan." Naruto turned to Iruka and said, "Sakura chan said I should give you a hint. I don't want to give out anything more, don't want to bring bad luck down. It's about Whirlpool village."

Iruka looked surprised. "Your mother's birth country?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, now I'm even more curious, but I'll follow your rules, and wait until tomorrow."

Sakura and Naruto breathed a sigh of relief.

Naruto looked over the crowd gathered below, then at the Hokage mountain, then at the sky, then off in the direction Whirlpool village had been, then his gaze turned back to the crowd.

"My mother came to Konoha from Whirlpool village as a kid. Mist destroyed that village before the distress message even reached us. The only aid We could give was to welcome our allied country's refugees to Konoha. Whirlpool people gradually became part of Konoha, but deep in their hearts they mourned and missed their home country. Many quietly expressed a dream to restore their village over the years. Konoha wasn't able to help that dream. Now we can." Naruto paused as shouts of joy erupted below. "Whirlpool will stay part of Fire, as the people of Whirlpool are now of Fire as well." The crowd cheered again. "But Whirlpool village will live again!" The crowd roared with approval. Naruto finished, "Any Konoha citizen, whether they have Whirlpool blood or not, is welcome to volunteer for this restoration project. Starting tomorrow an office will be set up to take volunteers."

Naruto turned to Sakura standing beside him and they took each others hands. Sakura had helped him write this. He couldn't come up with the right level of formal language. They crafted something that was a bit of hers and a bit of his. Naruto smiled with joy and relief, the people of Konoha had liked it. Ever since he learned of his connection to Whirlpool he had an urge to do something. Sakura had been the first one to suggest seeing if Whirlpool village could be restored. So she deserved as much credit as him for this proclamation.

Naruto and Sakura walked back to the Hokage quarters together, still holding hands. Back in their quarters they kissed and cuddled, waiting for their friends to stop by and congratulate them.

Naruto thought back to yesterday. He had shown the picture to Erosenin and Baasama, and they had looked really happy and talked to him a bit more about his parents and how they had come to fall in love. Sasuke had just smiled a little and said he was glad Naruto had a picture like that now, then they had discussed ANBU related things for the rest of the time. Kakashi sensei's reaction was kind of strange. He smiled under his mask, and like Sasuke said he was happy Naruto had a picture like that, but his eye wasn't a happy looking one, it was one showing some sort of pain. Naruto wasn't sure why. Maybe because my dad was his sensei, and that picture was taken pretty close to the time mom and dad died...

Naruto's reverie was cut short by first knock on the door. Sakura got up and laughed when she opened the door and 20 people were standing there. She invited them in, and the party commenced.

Six hours later, Naruto and Sakura finally sent the last well-wisher home and collapsed onto their bed. Tiredly they helped each other undress down to their underwear, then they turned off the lights and crawled under the covers. Sakura cuddled against Naruto and they drifted off to sleep.


	25. Chapter 25

Going back to the time Naruto and Sakura are in ANBU training. Both are 16 years old. (Note: Dotera are winter kimono, often with quilted linings that can be used for sleeping robes)

Rain or Shine  
Chapter 25

"Need any help?" Naruto called out cheerfully to Sasuke.

Sasuke shrugged, but a faint smile crossed his face as he and Jyuugo tore down another wall.

"Come on Sakura chan, that's the closest we're going to get to a yes."

Sakura grinned, with a glint in her eyes, and put her gloves on... "Wanton destruction with no bad consequences- sounds like fun."

Sasuke just shook his head in amusement; she doesn't even try to hide her similarities to Naruto anymore. Wonder how much property damage they do when they get passionate…

"So where should we start?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke glanced down the street, then pointed, "That house"

"Okay!" They both shouted with excitement and ran to the house.

Sasuke turned back to Jyuugo "Have they accepted you here?"

"Yes, your Hokage spoke for me to Hana san. Hana san told me yesterday she was very happy with my work, and gave me a raise."

"Good."

"Your friends Naruto san and Sakura san, have also been nice to me. Naruto san has treated me at his favorite place to eat several times."

"Ichiraku's" Sasuke smirked.

"Yes we talk about what life is like in Konoha. And Sakura san helped me find an apartment. She also brings by food once a week."

Sasuke looked at his two friends, eagerly tearing down a wall together. They've just met Jyuugo but are helping him that much. Is it because he is my friend too, or Jyuugo's nature that is making them go out of their way for him?

"I'm glad you met them."

"It's good you are back in your home village. You seem more at peace here."

"Hmm" Sasuke said noncommittally. But inwardly he wondered if Jyuugo was right. Killing Itachi hadn't brought him the peace he thought it would. But being here, with the friends that had believed in him, despite his attempts to completely end his bond with them- was there a glimmer of peacefulness now?

Sasuke staid true to his word- he was giving Konoha almost all the Uchiha clan holdings in Konoha to atone for becoming a missing nin and causing grave injuries to several Konoha ninjas in their attempts to bring him back to the village.

Sasuke would only keep his parents home, the Uchiha clan temple, and the lot next door. He had already dismantled the house on that lot. He had a special plan for that land.

Every day he had off from ANBU training he came back here and took down the houses. He hadn't been able to bring himself to do this or even hire people to do it before he fled Konoha. But now he had an urgent desire to clear the land of any traces of his clan before it was sold off. All the buildings but his home and the temple were in poor shape anyway- after 8 years of total neglect. The temple was fine, but his home needed some minor repairs after standing abandoned for nearly three years.

Naruto and Sakura must have found out this was what he was doing on his days off from training. He hadn't told them, feeling it was his responsibility. Yet he was happy they were here now.

ANBU training was nearly done now. One week left in Konoha- then their trial mission with Yamato as their captain. If they pulled the mission off successfully, they would be on their own on missions for a month. After that they would sometimes mix in with other teams, depending on their high level strengths.

He looked forward to going on missions again with Naruto and Sakura, and he was getting used that guy Sai. It would be strange getting used to Sakura being team leader, but he'd already seen in team training sessions, as well as on the return trip to Konoha, how much stronger she was- and not just physically. He understood why she was made team captain. Kakashi was training her to be an ANBU level team captain, just like Naruto was getting some ANBU level fighting training from the Hokage, and he was training to eventually take on the master spy position Jiraiya was reluctantly giving up.

Naruto's sensei had been an interesting teacher, quite different from either Orochimaru or Kakashi. Although, he could see hints of Kakashi's style in Jiraiya's. But then, Jiraiya had trained the Fourth, who had trained Kakashi...

The first day of training Jiraiya had arrived only shortly after he did- no long waits like with Kakashi.

"Alright kid, show me what you can do."

Sasuke looked confused.

"And you're supposed to be the genius of the team? I think Iruka must have mixed up things, when he graded you in the Academy."

Sasuke's eye twitched but otherwise he stayed calm.

"Well, you hold your temper better than Naruto and Sakura, and that's crucial for spy work. We'll work on improving that though- you still showed some reaction. Your new team mate, Sai, had training in hiding his emotions somewhat like what you'll need. I don't want you to suppress them entirely like he was taught, though. That's not good for a spy either. You need those emotions, just not to show them. Kakashi told me your big weaknesses were anger and fear. Living with Orochimaru appears to have cured you from letting fear get the better of you."

Sasuke nodded, with a new respect for this Sanin.

"Alright, now show me your skills."

"You want to fight with me?"

Jiraiya laughed. "No way kid. Tsunade would have me strapped down to the hospital bed for a week if I did that." Jiraiya grinned wickedly at that mental image- well might be fun to provoke her to strap me down, he thought. Then he sighed, "Guess it's better just to leave that a fantasy." He winked.

Sasuke looked at him blankly.

"Ah, can't stir you up on that, I see." Jiraiya shifted positions, grunting slightly at the twinges he felt all over his upper body from his still healing injuries, and pointed to the end of the field "Show me you skills with Chidori, and your other ninjutsu skills you might want to show me."

Oh, that's what he meant, Sasuke thought. He wants to gauge my skills level by observation, not participation in a sparring match. Sasuke walked to the end of the grounds and took a stance that would allow the Sanin to get the best sight of the display but put him at no risk of the slightest injury.

After a lengthy display of his skills he walked back to Jiraiya.

"Pretty impressive, but that level of Chidori takes a lot out of you, doesn't it?"

"Yes."

"You'll most certainly need it at some point, it could be the difference between life and death for both you and your team mates. Treat it as the dangerous weapon it is though, do not casually whip it out like you did the first time Naruto and Sakura both tried to rescue you. That was not a life or death threat and you knew it." Jiraiya glared at Sasuke.

"I... yeah." Sasuke was shaken, it was almost as if his father had addressed him. My father would have been deeply ashamed and angered to know I had done such a thing, he thought.

"Okay, you understand that. Now show me how far you have progressed with your clan's fire jutsu."

"That is still near the level it was when I left Konoha."

"Probably not your strongest element, then, despite being a full blooded Uchiha."

"Yeah." Once that would have shamed and angered him, but now he merely accepted it.

"Based on the substantial growth in your Chidori jutsu, I'd say your strongest element is lightning rather than fire. Wonder if Kakashi figured that out or just guessed when he trained you with his jutsu?"

Sasuke shrugged, he'd never asked.

"Okay, that's enough for today. Tsunade told me just an hour and I've already gone over that by a little. Before she comes hunting us down, let's head back."

That had been the first training session, two weeks ago. He'd just come back from a low level spying mission with the Sanin, yesterday. Tsunade had been reluctant to send Jiraiya on even a B level espionage mission, but if Sasuke was to succeed him in being Konoha's top level spy, he needed that training before he went out with an ANBU team. Sasuke had ended up saving Jiraiya from a potential trap. the Sanin had pronounced Sasuke completely competent for B level espionage on his own, from now on. He would get A level and above training and testing within ANBU. The Hokage assured him he was a confirmed ANBU, at least for solo spying missions. She would see how well he could do as a team ANBU with the upcoming mission. He had heard Sakura had already passed her team leadership skills test with Kakashi, this mission wouldn't really be a test for her anymore. Naruto was having a harder time but the Hokage said she thought he was mission level ready. She didn't seem worried.

An enormous crash startled him out of his thoughts, and he looked down the street where Naruto and Sakura had been doing demolition work. There was a huge cloud of dirt and dust that obscured his vision for a moment, but then he heard Sakura's laughter and a sheepish responding chuckle from Naruto. As it cleared he saw why- the building was effectively demolished now, pieces of walls and the roof were scattered all around the two of them.

"Well, that's one way to bring a building down, Naruto." Sakura smirked.

"Heh, well it's down anyway. What one do you want us to tackle next, Sasuke?"

"Eh, Jyuugo and I are taking a break right now, you can join us."

"Sure." Sakura smiled, brushing as much of the dirt and dust off as she could.

"My shower works if you two want to clean up."

"It's okay, we'll just get dirty again when we start on the next house."

Sasuke shrugged. He lead them back to the back of his home where he had already restored the pond and grounds. "Winter's coming soon, so not much to look at right now" He sat down on the porch, Naruto and Sakura sat down on either side of him. Jyuugo walked out to the pond, where a few birds still nested.

"It's still nice and peaceful." Sakura responded.

"Hmm." Sasuke said noncommittally. Again, the mention of peacefulness here. I can't see that yet. I look and feel the weight of too many memories...

"Yeah, I like it too." Naruto smiled

They sat in silence for several minutes then Sasuke said, "I know you two said you want to eventually get married... That lot next door, that's my gift to you. I'm telling you now, so if you want to start building something there now, you can. I already talked to the Hokage about it, and she's stamped the papers with it deeded to both of you."

Naruto and Sakura were stunned at this gesture.

"Sasuke, you don't have to give Sakura chan and me such a huge gift."

"I want to." It was partly atonement, yes, but it was more than that. It felt right. He wanted them to know he'd never forsake that bond that had grown between the three of them again. He also wanted them to know he felt as deep a bond to them as they did to him. There was no one he'd rather have live right next door to him than Naruto and Sakura.

"Thank you." Sakura tentatively touched his arm, as she thanked him.

Sasuke smiled at her and then at Naruto.

Naruto grinned and slapped Sasuke on the back. "Thanks Sasuke! Sakura chan and I will figure out some huge gift for you when you finally find some one you want to marry! Maybe I'll be Hokage by then and we could get you something really cool!"

"Umm, okay." Sasuke looked embarrassed.

Sakura shook her head knowingly and rolled her eyes when Naruto wasn't looking her direction. Sasuke looked surprised; he mouthed "You know?" Sakura nodded slightly, and then resumed a friendly neutral expression when Naruto looked in her direction.

"So Sakura chan, should we start building soon, or wait?"

"Let's wait a while. I'd rather help out like we did today. Once that's taken care of we can talk about what kind of house we'd want."

"You can spend the nights you help me out, in one of my guest rooms, rather than walk home tired." Sasuke blurted out, to Naruto and Sakura's and his own surprise.

"Okay", they both replied, smiling warmly.

"Jyuugo does that. I don't mind the company."

They nodded.

"I'm rested up enough, now. What house can Sakura chan and I take down next?"

Sasuke shrugged. "How about that one?" He pointed to the one across the street from the one he and Jyuugo had been dismantling today. He and Jyuugo were about ready to take down the last wall of that house, so they could join Naruto and Sakura on tearing down the other house. With their enthusiastic natures that house would probably be all taken down by sundown, so they could clean up the three houses debris and be done. He'd just flame it up in a contained fire jutsu and get rid of it quick.

Sakura and Naruto cuddled together under the covers in the guest bedroom. Sleeping in dotera that Sasuke loaned them.

"Sakura chan, you're amazing."

Sakura giggled, "You really think so?"

Naruto laughed. "That too, but I was talking about how quick you master stuff. You've already passed your ANBU test. You've always been amazing that way. You were the only Genin who ever knew the answers to all the questions on the written part of the Chunnin Exam. You always knew the answer to Iruka sensei's questions-"

"Not always, sometimes Sasuke would answer before I did and his answer was the correct one."

"But most the time you were right."

"Maybe." Sakura smiled, while praise from others sometimes still made her feel uncomfortable, when Naruto said it, it made her feel happy and loved. Tsunade shishou's real but blunt praise made her feel strong.

The training with Kakashi sensei had been kind of strained and awkward at first, finally Sakura got irritated.

"Kakashi sensei. I'm not a delicate little flower. I'm a kunoichi."

Kakashi sighed. "I know. I just don't really understand how to train a kunoichi."

Sakura closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath. I will not punch out my sensei, I will not punch out my sensei, she chanted inwardly. Finally after a couple of minutes she opened her eyes and spoke again. "The same way you train a male shinobi"

"But-"

"No buts, the same way." Sakura replied with controlled fury.

Kakashi looked at the young woman standing in front of him. She was indeed strong, very bright, and already a long way down the road toward being an excellent team leader. She was right, he was being foolish, making the most basic mistake, reacting to outward appearance rather than by her actually abilities. "You're right. I'm training a rookie ANBU squad leader, not a rookie Genin."

"You know it shouldn't have been different then either. I deserved the same level of training as Naruto or Sasuke."

"I know. I looked and saw a pretty little girl, not a kunoichi. I told all of you to look underneath the underneath and then I neglected to do so with you. The Hokage has not. She prepared you well. You stood up to her training and never gave up. She pushed you harder than I did any of you, even Sasuke. You didn't break, you became strong. All your skills grew."

"Thank you." Sakura blushed lightly at the high praise and smiled at the well deserved praise of Tsunade shishou.

"Alright, from now on, you'll be getting the no mercy training from me. I will train you to be the best ANBU captain you can possibly be." Kakashi said firmly.

Sakura gulped inwardly, a bit intimidated, but her face remained neutral and she responded merely with a firm nod of her head.

From that point on Kakashi was true to his word. Only the harshest parts of her training with Tsunade had been more difficult than the past weeks. Sakura did not waver for a moment. She was determined. She was startled when she showed up for her training late last week and Kakashi simply said "You passed. You're now ready to be an ANBU captain. Yamato will be your captain for this mission, but for you he's only backup or if something comes up that I didn't cover. Considering the rest of your team, that's quite likely." Kakashi smiled.

Sakura laughed, with Naruto that was especially true. She smiled as this thought brought her back to the moment and she murmured, "How has your training been going? Tsunade shishou hasn't told me much, other than you'll be ready when we go on our training mission, and we've both been so busy with training we haven't had time to really talk about it until now."

"She's so tough! I've never had a sensei push me to train so much!" Naruto's voice sounded happy.

"Yeah, she does that, pushes you to exhaustion." Sakura smiled "You know she really cares, wants you to be the best. She's not that mean when you fail though, she just says-"

"Try again."

"Or if you've collapsed with exhaustion she says, we'll try again tomorrow. Go home and get a good night's rest." Sakura laughed. "Several times early on I pushed myself so much that I couldn't even get up from the ground. Tsunade shishou carried me home, she didn't scold me at all about that, she seemed kind of proud actually."

"You showed you really believed in your goal to become strong."

"Like you do in becoming Hokage."

"Right!" Naruto grinned. "She likes people like that."

Sakura laughed, "That's why she tolerates you calling her baasama."

He laughed. "She calls me baka even more than you do." Naruto teased.

"Goodnight, baka."

"Sakura chan..." Naruto whined, but the whine had a hint of amusement in it. He wrapped his arms around her and she cuddled close, lightly kissing the triangle of chest bare from the sleeping robe.

"Umm nice." Naruto said sleepily. He kissed her forehead in return, she smiled contentedly, and they both drifted off to sleep.


End file.
